A perfectionist is one who spends an inappropriate amount of time on a task. A perfectionist believes that "if a job is worth doing at all it is worth doing well." Unfortunately the word "well" to a perfectionist means perfect. The result in many cases is that more time and effort is expended than the end result justifies. In other cases the job isn't even completed on time, if completed at all.

Many goals are never achieved simply because the individual waited for enough time to do a "good" job. Time is at a premium for everyone and "enough time" for a perfectionist is rarely available. Therefore perfectionism and procrastination frequently go hand in hand.

Recognize that every task has a point of diminishing return. Make up your mind in advance that you will only devote a certain amount of time to the job. For example, don't wash your car until it is so clean it squeaks; wash it as well as you can in the half hour you have allocated to that job. Let the time spent be in proportion to the importance of the task.

The same process should be used in decision making. Don't spend $1000 in salaries making a $500 decision. An agenda item could be discussed for hours without exhausting all the possibilities, but to what end? Let' not spend $500 in participants' wages deciding whether to buy a $200 piece of equipment.

Perfectionism is costly. And in most cases the cost is unwarranted.