Perfectionism Isn’t the Enemy- It’s a Tool

By: Judy Cohen

Perfectionism.

The word alone makes people wince.
It’s the villain of self-help books, the shadow behind burnout, the reason you “never finish.”
We blame it for freezing in front of job applications, polishing projects into dust, or never feeling “ready.”

And yet… here’s the twist: perfectionism isn’t always bad.
Sometimes it’s the reason your work shines.
Sometimes it’s what gets you noticed.
Sometimes it’s what keeps you sharp when everyone else has already given up.

I know, because I’ve lived both sides of it.

I once spent an entire afternoon adjusting the margins on a CV. Not rewriting the content, not sending it out- just nudging the invisible edges of the page until I felt it looked “professional enough.” Spoiler: the job posting expired before I pressed send.

Another time, I lost hours deciding how to draw the toes of a character in a sketch. A sketch, not a finished painting. No one would ever see it. But I was deep in a pixel-level battle with myself.

That’s perfectionism. Sometimes it makes you excellent. Sometimes it makes you late.

So the real question isn’t “Am I a perfectionist?”
It’s “Who’s steering- me, or my perfectionism?”

The magic and the mess

Perfectionism is like coffee.

Too much, and you’re buzzing in circles.
Too little, and nothing moves.

The right amount sharpens you.

And let’s be honest: most of us don’t know our limit until we’ve crossed it.

The magic side looks like this:
– Calm confidence in an interview because you actually prepared.
– Colleagues trusting you because you don’t miss the details.
– Standards that quietly raise the bar for everyone around you.

It’s the reason your teammates send you the messy draft — because they know you’ll catch the typos, the formatting gremlins, the missing numbers. It’s the reason people breathe easier when you’re in charge of the report, the project, the rollout.

But there’s the other side.

The mess looks like this:
– Cover letters polished into extinction until the deadline disappears.
– Projects permanently stuck in “almost ready” purgatory.
– Three hours gone because you nudged the same bullet point back and forth.

I once wrote a cover letter so long it could have been published as a novella. I didn’t send it. By the time I cut it down to “professional length,” the role had been filled.

That’s the paradox. The instinct that earns trust can also strangle progress.

Perfectionism in daily life

It doesn’t just show up at work.

In the kitchen, perfectionism is the voice that tells you not to serve the stew because the potatoes are unevenly cut. 
Never mind that your friends would happily inhale it, you’re embarrassed that one carrot slice looks like it had a bad haircut.

That’s the trick, really. In some contexts: art, reports, job applications …

You can polish forever because no one’s watching the clock. 

In others:  restaurants, entertainment, media, tech, deadlines, live meetings - perfectionism gets bulldozed by circumstance.

The goal isn’t to eliminate it. 

It’s to figure out how to apply café logic to the rest of your life: serve the food while it’s hot, even if one potato is ugly.

What the data (and people) say

At Career Club, we hear it all the time.
“I didn’t apply, because I wasn’t sure I ticked every box.” Heads nod. Nervous laughter follows.

And the numbers whisper the same story.
Men apply when they meet about 60% of requirements.
Women wait until they’re closer to 90% or 100%.

In Denmark, women’s employment rate is 74.2%, just below men’s. But the gender pay gap? 12.7%. About 15% of that gap is “unexplained.” Translation: the maths says we’re still not applying, negotiating, or pushing as much as we could.

Recruiters know this pattern by heart. Ask them, and you’ll hear the same sigh: inboxes full of half-qualified applicants (mostly men), while the few women who do apply are nearly always spot-on. Managers see it too: drafts never turned in because they weren’t “perfect yet.”

This isn’t theory. It’s just a regular Tuesday. 

How perfectionism plays out at work

Picture two colleagues.

One is the “safe pair of hands.” Their work is clean, clear, dependable. If a deadline is life-or-death, you want them on it. Their perfectionism is an asset.

The other is the “never delivers.” Smart, capable, but projects always drag. Drafts vanish into the void. When you ask, you hear, “I just need to tweak a few things…” Their perfectionism is the barrier.

The difference isn’t talent. It’s who’s in charge.

Perfectionism doesn’t decide your fate.

How you use it, does.

Turning it into a tool

Perfectionism isn’t a monster to slay. 

It’s a tool. The trick is knowing when to wield it and when to drop it.

Here’s how I think about it:

Use it when it helps:

• Prep like a pro before interviews. (Confidence is driven by detail.)

• Be the reliable pair of hands on accuracy-heavy projects. (Perfectionism shines here.)

• Quietly lift the team standard without lecturing anyone.

Catch it when it hurts:

• Ask: am I polishing, or procrastinating?

• Timebox the polish: “20 more minutes, then it goes.”

• Test the stakes: will this detail change the outcome?

• Send it messy. (Messy is still better than invisible.)

You don’t need to kill your perfectionism. You need to train it like a slightly unruly dog. One that occasionally chews your slippers but also guards the house at night.

Perfectionism in job hunting

This is where it’s seen the most.

We tell ourselves we can’t apply until the CV is flawless. 

We can’t apply until the cover letter reads like poetry. 

We can’t apply until we’ve ticked every requirement.

But here’s the truth… recruiters aren’t grading your commas. 

They’re scanning your experience in 12 seconds flat - yes, a veteran recruiter may scan cv’s faster and more accurately than any ATS system out there. 

If you’ve ever skipped an application because you were at 80%, remember this: someone else applied at 60% and is already in the interview round.

Send the CV. 

Send the cover letter with one too many adjectives. 

The worst-case scenario isn’t rejection… It’s silence, because you never applied.

Self-compassion 

Here’s the hardest part: stop assuming the world is waiting for you to trip.

Perfectionism tells you every flaw is broadcasted on a billboard. 

Reality: most people don’t notice, or care… Or they notice the good, and you dismiss it.

Perfect doesn’t exist. 

We’re all imperfect humans trying to do good work and survive the week. That’s enough.

It’s easy to obsess over the single criticism in a sea of compliments. But the compliments count too. They’re proof you’re exceeding expectations, even if your brain refuses to believe it.

Self-compassion isn’t dropping standards. It’s remembering weaknesses don’t cancel out strengths. 

Everyone has both. That’s not failure. That’s being human.

So what do we do with it?

You don’t erase perfectionism. 

You decide how to use it.

Notice when it sharpens you, and when it just keeps you spinning. Use it for prep, polishing, and stakes that actually matter. Put it down when it becomes avoidance disguised as productivity.

Perfectionism can be a scalpel or a straightjacket. The difference is whether you’re holding it… or it’s holding you.

Serve the food while it’s hot. Apply for the job while it’s open. Send the draft before it fossilizes.

And if your cover letter still has one comma out of place? Send it anyway. The recruiter won’t notice. 
What they will notice is if you never apply at all.

And on that note… This article is now “perfect enough” for submission.