Chasing Perfection
Realising the benefits and managing the costs of striving towards the highest aspiration
When striving for excellence you are never finished. The best spend their athletic careers in the pursuit of the perfect game or perfect performance. The nature of perfection is that it will never be attained. At their best, a star performer might come tantalisingly close, but perfection will always remain out of reach. This elusive quality is actually part of what makes competitive sport so engaging. Whilst perfection might be unattainable, it remains a worthy aspiration. There is merit in striving to achieve the impossible. The caveat is that the pursuit must be approached in a manner that can be sustained. There are costs and potential hazards that must be managed.
The notion that a healthy expression of perfectionism might exist and any suggestion that this is something worth promoting seem like controversial claims. Perfectionism has typically been presented as a negative trait in the context of youth sport. There is an understandable fear that unrealistic or unattainable expectations might lead the young performer to be excessively hard on themselves in a way that diminishes enjoyment and satisfaction and conceivably contributes to burnout or even dropping out. For many years, the message was that perfectionism is dyfunctional, maladaptive and should be discouraged.
There were a few lone voices who (bravely) pointed out that certain aspects of perfectionism actually appear quite functional and adaptive for aspiring high performers. There was evidence to support this counter claim. Champion performers who go on to achieve extraordinary success at senior level commonly report perfectionist tendencies. Indeed, this is one of the features that distinguishes them from their similarly talented but ultimately unsuccessful peers.
Another striking finding is that those who score higher on perfectionist striving typically perform better. This makes some sense, as these individuals accordingly invest more time in practice and training, which we would expect to result in better performance over time. Indeed, those performers who exhibit perfectionist striving are not only more engaged but also tend to be more proactive and systematic in their approach. In other words, they put in more effort (both physical and mental) overall and are also more considered and diligent in how they direct their efforts.
The talent development literature increasingly recognises that perfectionism is not unidimensional and the positive elements are now more readily acknowledged. Rather than leading to burnout or dropping out, we find that those performers who exhibit the adaptive parts of perfectionism typically become more engaged over time. Moreover, perfectionist striving makes individuals more inclined to stick to their lofty goals rather than settling for less.
On closer inspection, it is easy to see how perfectionism fits into this picture. A hallmark of outstanding performers is that they are never fully satisfied. Whatever they achieve, they look upon it as a stepping stone rather than the pinnacle. Coasting is not an option for these individuals, as what makes them most uncomfortable is the feeling that they are no longer progressing or improving. They are always seeking to do better and to go onto bigger things.
In view of all these merits, we now differentiate between types or expressions of perfectionism. In particular, there is a crucial distinction between perfectionist strivings versus perfectionistic concerns. Perfectionist striving is associated with very high personal standards. Perfectionistic concerns are more focussed on the implications of falling short and the prospect of negative evaluation. The former is an intrinsic drive (the individual holds themselves to high standards that they define), whereas the latter is more focussed on external factors (notably the judgement of others) and the consequences of a negative outcome.
What is clear is that certain aspects of perfectionism are useful and there are other facets which may be unhelpful or even detrimental. The functional and adaptive ‘perfectionist striving’ element may be accompanied by dysfunctional perfectionistic concerns in some individuals, but this is not necessarily the case. The key point is that a more nuanced understanding which allows for such distinctions provides the option of keeping the good parts, whilst allowing us to guard against the less helpful aspects.
How perfectionism is manifested largely comes down to interpretation. What concerns the individual might have regarding the potential outcome depends on what meaning they attribute to falling short and how this reflects on themselves. These are the areas where we should focus in our quest to promote the healthy expression of perfectionist striving.
In a very real sense, perfection is an impossible standard. Whilst it has an aspirational quality, we need to avoid a situation where the individual is constantly beating themselves up for failing in this impossible task. We do not want to rob the experience of all its joy. It is vital that young performers are still able to enjoy themselves and find satisfaction as they continue to strive towards this aspiration and seek ways to become better. To that end, we have spoken before about the importance of highly motivated young performers making sure they take the wins and how it is imperative that they give themselves credit when and where it is due.
There is an inherent tension between striving versus satisfaction. Clearly we do not want to be too easily satisfied as this would remove any impetus to try harder or do better. Equally, when it comes to ever-striving young peformers, we need to help them find peace with the idea that they might never be fully satisfied.
Practically, how the performer responds when they do not perform to their lofty (and perhaps unrealistic) expectations of themselves is likewise crucial. Those who have high personal standards do tend to be self-critical. All the same, how they evaluate themselves must allow for the possibility of redemption. They must have faith in their ability to improve and rise to the challenge. When assessing where they are now, ‘not there yet’ is better than final or fatalistic judgements, such as ‘I’m not good enough’. The framing can be the difference between motivating versus dispiriting.
A related and equally critical part of making perfectionist striving work in their favour is cultivating a healthy attitude towards making mistakes. More accurately, there needs to be some allowance on the part of the young performer (and those guiding them) that certain types of mistake are useful and even necessary if they are to make continued progress.
If we are mindful we can enable young performers to take the good parts of perfectionist striving and ameliorate or even avoid the negative aspects. How we do this is by essentially making it a game to see how close to perfection they can get. It then becomes a quest to discover how far they might go in the process. This starts with acknowledging that what they are aiming for might be impossible, even if they might not fully accept that this is the case! An impossible standard is still worth striving towards, but recognising it as such fundamentally changes how they interpret the situation when they fall short and importantly makes them more forgiving in their judgements of themselves. When perfectionism becomes a game they choose to play rather than simply a judge that always finds them wanting this makes for a much healthier situation!