The Danger of Perfectionism and the Nirvana Fallacy - Ted Talk
Our world desperately needs to find compromise, but the Nirvana fallacy, of “perfect at all costs”, is getting in the way of progress.
I see this pursuit of perfectionism in my clients as individuals and organisations all the time, and it is getting worse. The pressures that we feel, and the pressures that the generations to come face, are on the rise. Over and over I am seeing people stymied by the overwhelm, by the volume of unrealistic standards they are trying to juggle. Progress is slow and frustrating. People are giving up. Mental health is, unsurprisingly, on the wane.
And so, I love this talk by Charly Haversat, a retired elite athlete, about what she has seen in this space also. And the results are the same , with so many people saying some version of “If I can’t do it perfectly, I’m not going to do it at all”
And yet, she asks, “what about the pursuit of good enough?” This is the lens we need to adopt in order to make progress. In all spheres of life, shared and personal, this has to be a better approach. Baby steps. Deepening understanding. Strengthening relationships.
Instead the reality as I see it is the reverse, and Charly agrees. In her talk she references a US study, in which elite athletes were given the scenario of whether they would take a drug which would guarantee them to win a gold medal, but die in 5 years, or not take the drug at all, and continue as they were. 50%+ of the elite athletes said they would take the drug, in repeated studies, over many years. This is the level of perfectionism they seek.
And this is what we are up against. This is the climate we are in. This is a phenomenon we must root out, if we want to move forward and face and solve our challenges with the haste that is required.
I believe, as ever, that strengthening our sense of self-connection, and understanding our role in the wider community/collective will really help us see through this Nirvana fallacy, and come to value “good enough”, as good enough.
