[005] Perfectionism
March 19th, 2008 [005]
Observe the picture above. It is that of an ancient Chinese pottery replica I’ve seen in Beijing last year. The Chinese are well known for their delicate and ornate artifacts. But take a closer look; you will see that the golden paint has been carelessly dabbed on. The pottery seams to be embedded with heart-shape, but the paint does not satisfy those proper boundaries. What happened? Of all places, you would think that an ancient temple open for cultural display would have attained a higher quality of this or any other aspect.
This reminded me of the word, “perfectionism.”
I admit that I have a form of perfectionism. No, not the type that must have every book on one’s desk to be perfectly aligned, and definitely not type that needs to have an essay perfectly grammar-clean and spelling-clean. My brand is a less conspicuous and the less elegant type.
Something like… wanting to start on a task or project only if I feel I can do a good job on it, if that makes any sense. On the more negative side, it also means that I tend to leave something before even starting, when I judge it to be near impossible or pointless.
This is a problem sometimes, because I usually can’t move on writing an essay until a thesis is perfect, and it bothers me when time is insufficient to do so. When playing a game, I want to find all hidden places, obtain every secret items, etc. If I think I can’t do that, it is most likely for me to not start that game at all. I want to either read the entire textbook or none at all, I want to finish a novel or not start at all.
So I’d rather have an all or nothing. It’s not a exotic or absurd personality trait, I believe. I’ll bet that many people think this way. You want to do something perfectly, but time and resources do not allow.
This whole thing is a random thought I had. Just to prove a point that I wouldn’t have colored that pottery thing in the first place if I were them :] I would have just left it uncolored.
But then from far away, you can’t tell whether the paint is done nicely or not. Does it mean that a crappy homework is sometimes better than none at all?
on March 19th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
China was just famous for their porcelains probably until the Opium war. Well, i bet there’s millions of copies of that jug around china tagged ‘made in china’
“wanting to start on a task or project only if I feel I can do a good job on it” This statement sounds passive and like a runaway, but it does have a point. Because I’m going to get a job that i’m confident at, instead of simply choosing a future with possibilities of high wages.
but I think you should be optimistic about stuff, but i’m pretty much the same with you about Games. I’m instinctively very ambitious in getting a 100% quests done and obtaining epic items.
Well all the other stuff as well. similarities found.
on March 24th, 2008 at 9:45 am
I also have that kind of perfectionism. However, I’m trying to get over that kind of perfectionism because it takes away my chances for learning. I believe that improvement that comes from trying is worth more than perfectionism. Well, it’s been my habit for a long time to put off stuff that I’m not confident in so it’s really hard to get over. But I think you wouldn’t have to worry about it because you’re smart enough to do everything perfectly.