Adam Grant on Perfectionism and Procrastination
Adam Grant, an organizational psychologist and bestselling author, discusses managing perfectionism, reimagining failure, and strategies for procrastination. He shares insights on distinguishing excellence from perfection and using a "failure budget" to foster growth.
Deep Dive Analysis
15 Topic Outline
Introduction to Perfectionism and its Downsides
Adam Grant's Personal History with Perfectionism
Defining Normal vs. Neurotic Perfectionism
The Rise of Perfectionism in Younger Generations
Parental Pressure and Fostering Grit
Strategy: Excellence Doesn't Require Perfection
Strategy: Measure Progress Through Self-Comparison
Strategy: Curate a Group of Trusted Coaches
Strategy: Focus on One Improvement at a Time
Non-Attachment to Uncontrollable Results
Reimagining Your Relationship with Failure
Defining Procrastination and Pre-crastination
Strategies for Managing Procrastination
Following Values vs. Passions
The Importance of Current Vulnerability
7 Key Concepts
Perfectionism
In psychology, perfectionism is defined as the desire to be flawless, to have zero deficiencies or defects, and to create an image of being superhuman. It often leads to obsessive effort, burnout, depression, and a lack of risk-taking.
Normal Perfectionism
This type of perfectionism involves aiming for extremely high standards of excellence with a positive vision of the future. It is goal-oriented and driven by a desire to achieve high quality, though it can still be unhealthy.
Neurotic Perfectionism
This form of perfectionism is primarily driven by a fear of failure, a belief that one is flawed, and anxiety about not meeting others' standards. It is considered even unhealthier than normal perfectionism and can lead to chronic procrastination.
Pre-crastination
This is the opposite of procrastination, where an individual dives into important tasks immediately and aims to finish them well ahead of schedule. While it reduces stress and scrambling, it can diminish creativity by leading one to settle for the first idea instead of waiting for the best one.
Second Score
A concept in feedback where, after receiving a 'first score' (feedback or criticism), one gives themselves a 'second score' based on how well they received and processed that initial feedback. The goal is to ace how well one learns from reactions, rather than arguing with the initial assessment.
Failure Budget
A self-imposed quota for how many times one is allowed to fail in a given year or period. The purpose is to encourage risk-taking, experimentation, and growth, recognizing that a zero failure rate indicates insufficient challenge and learning.
Follow Your Values
An alternative to 'follow your passion,' this advice suggests focusing on what gives a sense of purpose, often related to helping others. Values tend to provide more sustained motivation and commitment over time, as passions can wax and wane with enjoyment and skill development.
8 Questions Answered
Adam Grant defines perfectionism as the desire to be flawless, to have zero deficiencies, and to create an image of being superhuman, often leading to obsessive effort and an unattainable standard.
Perfectionism leads to wasted time on minor details, increased risk of burnout and depression due to unattainable standards, and a lack of risk-taking and creativity, often narrowing one's field of competence.
Yes, perfectionism has been steadily increasing since the late 1980s in countries like the US, UK, and Canada. While social media contributes, key factors include harsh parental criticism and strong parental pressure to succeed.
Parents should encourage persistence broadly in terms of goals and values (e.g., artistic expression, excelling at something) rather than narrowly on a specific task or activity, allowing children to pivot if a particular pursuit doesn't energize them.
Healthy judgment comes from 'coaches' who aim to see you accurately and help you improve, providing supportive and developmental feedback. Unhealthy judgment comes from 'critics' who eviscerate your worst self, often seen in random social media comments, and can be discouraging.
One can develop a healthier relationship with failure by setting a 'failure budget' to encourage risk-taking, depersonalizing project failures from personal identity, and analyzing failures to extract lessons for future improvement, recognizing the role of both controllable and uncontrollable factors.
Procrastination is fundamentally an emotion management problem, not a time management problem. People procrastinate on tasks they associate with unpleasant feelings like frustration, confusion, difficulty, anxiety, or boredom.
This advice can lead to a fixed mindset, causing people to give up if they're not immediately good at something, not realizing passion can grow with skill and mastery. It also may not be practical for everyone, and passions can change over time.
16 Actionable Insights
1. Set a Failure Budget
Establish a quota for how many times you are allowed to fail in a given year to encourage risk-taking and growth, understanding that a zero failure rate means you’re not challenging yourself enough.
2. Follow Values, Not Passions
Prioritize pursuing your core values and sense of purpose, especially in helping others, as passion can fluctuate, but meaning provides more sustained motivation and commitment over time.
3. Cultivate a Coaching Committee
Actively recruit a group of trusted individuals who serve as ‘coaches’ (not critics) to provide honest, constructive feedback aimed at helping you improve and close the gap between your current and best self.
4. Practice “Second Score” Feedback
When receiving feedback, focus on how well you handle the criticism (your ‘second score’) by aiming to learn from it, rather than immediately defending or debating the initial ‘score’ given.
5. Focus on One Improvement
When seeking to improve, identify and concentrate on mastering only one key change at a time, as humans are serial processors and trying to fix too many things at once leads to fixing none.
6. Measure Progress, Not Perfection
Shift your focus from comparing yourself to others to comparing your current performance to your past self, making it easier to recognize and appreciate the progress you’ve made.
7. Calibrate Standards for Excellence
Redefine your standard of achievement by aiming for excellence, which is an extremely high but attainable standard, rather than unattainable flawlessness, and clarify what level of ‘good enough’ would satisfy you.
8. Broaden Goals for Persistence
When facing a challenge or considering quitting, broaden your goal from a specific task to a wider domain or value (e.g., ‘artistic outlet’ instead of ‘drums’) to encourage healthier persistence and allow for flexibility.
9. Detach from Uncontrollable Results
Be attached to the quality of the work you control, but practice detaching from external reactions, especially from strangers or those not offering constructive feedback, as these are often beyond your influence.
10. Manage Procrastination Emotions
Recognize that procrastination is primarily an emotion management problem, not a time management one; address unpleasant feelings associated with tasks by either changing the task or rewarding yourself for powering through boring work.
11. Start with Small Time Blocks
Overcome the inertia of starting daunting tasks by committing to work in very small, manageable time blocks (e.g., 15 minutes), which helps make incremental progress and reduces the pressure for perfection.
12. Use Pre-commitment for Accountability
Implement pre-commitment strategies, such as having an accountability buddy or setting up a financial penalty (like donating to a disliked charity) if you fail to meet a self-imposed deadline.
13. Imagine Spectacular Failure
When procrastinating due to fear of failure, vividly imagine the absolute worst-case scenario; this can help you realize that the actual consequences are rarely as catastrophic as your fears suggest.
14. Question Your Readiness
When you find yourself hesitating to start a new or difficult task, ask yourself, ‘Am I going to do this one day?’ If the answer is yes, then challenge yourself with ‘What am I waiting for?’
15. Embrace Current Vulnerability
Practice sharing your current struggles and imperfections, as this act of ‘meta-vulnerability’ can be a powerful form of connection, helpfulness, and service, rather than just discussing past, overcome challenges.
16. Optimize for Circadian Rhythms
If you are a ’night owl,’ consider restructuring your workday and life cycles to align with your natural optimal performance times, which tend to be in the late afternoon, evenings, or overnights.
5 Key Quotes
A critic is somebody who basically sees your worst self and then eviscerates it. A coach is somebody who tries to see you accurately and then help you close the distance between your current self and your best self.
Adam Grant
Passion is a consequence of performance, not just a cause.
Adam Grant
If my rate of failure was zero, that that meant that I wasn't, I wasn't challenging myself and I wasn't growing enough.
Adam Grant
We think procrastination is a time management problem. It's not. It's an emotion management problem.
Adam Grant
Not caring about anybody else's reaction to your book is a journal, not a book. You don't need to publish it. You're writing that for you.
Adam Grant
2 Protocols
Managing Perfectionism
Adam Grant- Recognize that excellence does not require perfection; a '10' in diving is for excellence, not flawlessness.
- Measure your excellence in terms of your progress by comparing your current performance to your past self, rather than solely to others.
- Find a group of trusted 'coaches' (not critics) who can provide accurate, supportive, and developmental feedback on your work.
- Focus on improving only one thing at a time, as humans are serial processors and trying to fix everything at once leads to fixing nothing.
Strategies for Dealing with Procrastination
Adam Grant- Carve out small windows of time, such as 15-minute blocks, to start tasks, especially for those who feel they need large, uninterrupted periods.
- Imagine failing spectacularly to realize that the worst-case scenario is often not as bad as feared, and may even lead to positive outcomes.
- Utilize pre-commitment by setting up accountability structures, such as an accountability buddy or a pre-donation to a disliked charity if a deadline is missed.
- Manage the negative emotions associated with the task, as procrastination is often an emotion management problem rather than a time management problem, by either changing the task or rewarding yourself for powering through it.