Is Perfectionism Killing Your Blog?

Productivity is inversely related to perfectionism. The more you try to achieve perfectionism, the more your productivity decreases. Professional blogging requires consistency in content creation supported by aggressive marketing and promotion campaigns. You have exceptional writing skills and sound technical knowledge about blogging, but still struggle to produce regular content. Are you putting lot of effort to produce a gem every time you write a post?

If you can relate yourself with these symptoms, most probably you are trying to achieve perfection in everything you do. The end result is missed deadlines, irregular posting schedule and mental stress.

I faced the same situation, but thanks to famous 'Blogging and New Media Consultant' - Chris Garrett who helped me in coming out of this situation. Interestingly, in his early days he experienced the same situation but soon recovered from it. In his words - 'Curb the perfectionism - Just Do It'. If you are trying hard to be a perfectionist, your blog is destined to die prematurely. Here's what Jack Kirby has to say about perfectionism.

Perfectionists are their own devils - Jack Kirby

Let's see what are the effects and end-results when you try to be perfect in everything (blogging routine).

Perfectionism: Effects and Results

Procrastination - This is the most common behavior found in perfectionists. Procrastination is associated with deferring of a task/job in hand to cope with stress and anxiety associated with completion of that task. You are in constant search for a better way to complete that task and thus decide to defer it again and again.

Missed deadlines - Deferring of tasks leads to time mismanagement with more pressure to complete old tasks along with the new ones. As more and more pending tasks are accumulated, things go beyond your control.

Low productivity - Since you are not delivering in time, the overall productivity decreases. This creates distrust among your readers who have subscribed to get regular content. Things become worse when you take long breaks with no status updates for your readers.

Stress and anxiety - All this leads to constant stress on your mind. The fear of criticism triggers the endless cycle of repeating and rinsing the task elevating the level of stress and anxiety.

Health problems - A healthy mind leads to a healthy body. Your habit of trying to achieve utmost excellence in everything pushes you to work for long or at odd hours. This will deteriorate your health making the situation more worse.

Poor social network - According to psychologists, perfectionists tend to have low self-esteem, are pessimist and undermine their potential when socializing with people around them. The end result is no strong network that is so important to market and promote your blog.

Remedy To The Problem

Come out of denial mode - The very first step is identifying the problem and accepting it. Unless you are not ready to accept this negative phenomenon that is affecting your productivity, things can't change.

Ask and listen to the advice - Do not hesitate to discuss your problem with an expert. You can write a mail asking for advice to get out of this situation. Rest assured, 9 out of 10 times you'll get the answer. If you don't get any response from one place, try another.

Guard yourself - Create a blogging plan and follow it strictly. Audit yourself from time to time to assess your progress. Socialize with people (online/offline). This greatly helps in coming out of the shell and in kick starting the things.

Highly Recommended Related Reading:

1. How To Be a More Productive Blogger
2. How To Reduce Blogging Stress
3. Blogging Techniques For Part-Time Bloggers

Image Credit: DailyPic