Do you have an Inner Perfectionist?

Your Inner Perfectionist can be really helpful and probably has been at various points in your career. They make sure you do your best work. Help you through the end game of writing in which all the big ideas are there and you need to make it really shine.

But if your Inner Perfectionist gets involved too early in the process, they can make things take a lot longer than they need to. Things don’t need to be perfect to send them to a colleague for comments. Your colleague won’t think less of you for sending us something that needs revision. Maybe it’s a good idea to leave something for them to comment on.

Give your Inner Perfectionist a name. And a clearly defined role.

This enables you to separate yourself from this particular gremlin. Talk to them, even.

Don’t let your Inner Perfectionist get involved in the early stages when it is perfectly normal for things to be messy. Send them off with a cup of tea and a book until you are ready.

And don’t let them prevent you from actually submitting things. That striving for perfection helps you get from good to excellent, but nothing is going to be perfect. And your Inner Perfectionist is just going to have to learn to deal with that.

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Edited Nov 19, 2015. Updated and Related Posts added July 2025.