Two Types of Perfectionists

Perfectionists are not hard to find. They’re everywhere around you, adding beauty and grace, or sometimes problems and frustration to your life. Perfectionism has come to mean something like having too high standards and putting too much effort to realize them. But this is not a perfect description of what is going around. Let’s have a closer look on who perfectionists actually are.

As far as my observation of the society is concerned, I have come across two distinct types of perfectionists. 

The perfectionists of first, and more numerous, kind have their perfectionism set high in the heavens and spend most of the times looking and contemplating on it. In this business, there are times when they run into the crude realities of life which never conform to their ideology, and find a second business which comprises such noble tasks as pointing out the inappropriateness of today’s world and complaining about the rigidity and stubbornness of its people. This is perfect type of the perfectionists.

The members of the second category are the ones considered heretics by the first class perfectionists. Rather than fixing their eyes on some heavenly model and stumbling around on a model earth, they look at the present, consider the possible ways of its development into different future events, and put their efforts to steer it the way that they think will be the best. They are the realistic perfectionists.

The major difference between the two classes is that the first don’t realize and own the apparent imperfections of life while the second do. This stance of the realistic perfectionists allows them to think in terms of possibilities and probabilities and increases their chances of some meaningful achievement. On the other hand, the orthodox perfectionists don’t compromise on their standards and live in a state of permanent conflict between the worlds outside and inside their heads. They are little likely to contribute something valuable to the world, even less to themselves.