Perfectionism - At What Cost? 

There is a difference between wanting to be excellent and wanting to be perfect.  Being excellent is a good quality.  It means that you would like to give your best.  If you want to be perfect, it may mean that you stretch yourself beyond what may be possible under normal circumstances.  I am not suggesting that you should be imperfect.  When you want to be perfect, you are likely to overdo a particular thing.  Beyond a point, any effort will be disproportionate to the outcome that you are likely to get.  Sometimes it might be a terrible waste of time.  Sir Simon Marks who is the Chairman of Marks and Spencer's retailing chain in Great Britain used to say, "the price of perfectionism is prohibitive."   

An example of perfectionism is, a stenographer typing a page and retyping the whole thing just because there is one error, which can be corrected by hand.  I have seen some people writing every note by hand and then typing it after correcting it manually.  Before wanting to be perfect, consider whether the context justifies the same.  In certain contexts, perfectionism can be a value.  More often than not, it may add to the cost.  The Declaration of Independence of United States of America is an example in this context.   You will find the original declaration in the Archives.  At the final stage, the inscriber of the document noticed two errors of omission in copying the final version.  Instead of starting the work all over again, the inscriber inserted the missing letters between the lines with the aid of a caret.  If such a sacred document can accept an error and such a correction, an ordinary letter can be corrected by hand!

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