““If it’s not perfect, then it’s a failure.” This thought sounds in the head of millions of people, and it is this thought that most often becomes the main obstacle in a career. In 2025, when the labor market requires flexibility and speed, perfectionism is no longer a compliment. It has turned into a diagnosis that prevents growth. Photo: Pixabay In May 2025, the Rabota.ru service conducted a survey on Wed […]”, — write: businessua.com.ua
This thought sounds in the head of millions of people, and it is this thought that most often becomes the main obstacle in a career.
In 2025, when the labor market requires flexibility and speed, perfectionism is no longer a compliment. It has turned into a diagnosis that prevents growth.
Photo: Pixabay In May 2025, the “Rabota.ru” service conducted a survey among more than 3,500 people: 48% admitted that they suffer from the excellent student syndrome.
It is not just a habit of “doing well”.
It is a constant feeling that the result is not good enough, even if it is objectively above average.
Psychologists note: perfectionism is formed in childhood, when the praise of parents and teachers depended on grades. But in adulthood, this attitude turns into a trap.
A person spends hours on bringing the report to the “ideal”, instead of handing it in on time and working on a new project.
As a result, the winner is not the one who did the “best”, but the one who did it on time and brought the company a result.
Economists also see this as a problem. Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman emphasized in his studies: the pursuit of an ideal often leads to paralysis of decisions.
In conditions where business requires quick reactions, the perfectionist finds himself at a loss.
In 2025, companies are increasingly looking for employees who can work in conditions of uncertainty.
A McKinsey study showed that flexibility and the ability to quickly adapt have become key skills for career growth.
And perfectionism gets in the way of exactly that — it makes you get stuck on details. But the most dangerous thing is the impact on health.
In 2025, the VC.ru portal wrote: “You spend on perfectionism the energy that could be spent on real achievements, rest and simple enjoyment of life.”
Chronic stress, insomnia, burnout are not side effects, but a direct price for striving for an ideal.
And here is the paradox: it is the rejection of perfectionism that opens the way to growth. Those who learn to let go of details and work with a “good enough” result move up the career ladder faster. Because business does not need perfect projects, but solutions that work.
Grader syndrome is not about quality. It’s about fear. And while you are afraid to do “imperfectly”, someone else does and gets the result.
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