The Truth About Minimalism And Perfectionism

Minimalism and perfectionism often get lumped together. Often, by those who are newly attempting a minimalist lifestyle or by those watching from a distance with heavy skepticism. If you know nothing of the practice and principles of minimalism, you might naturally think of a stark white room with a strategically placed succulent. It seems to be a lifestyle for perfectionists. But the effects of minimalism and perfectionism are crucially different.

Of course, in the beginning, many people struggle to find the balance between awareness of their belongings and obsession with their belongings. It’s all a part of the learning curve.

And yes, obsession over belongings might fall into a perfectionistic standard, making the journey to minimalist living pretty unpleasant for that person and everyone around them 😬. But it totally doesn’t have to be that way. Let’s do a side-by-side!

4 Core Pain Points Associated With Perfectionism

It’s funny how many people throw around the word ‘perfectionist’ like it’s a master compliment to themselves. Have you ever used that in a job interview? “Well, I guess my biggest “flaw” is that I’m such a perfectionist.”

I understand the confusion. I mean, it does have the word ‘perfect‘ in it but perfectionism is the source of incredible unhappiness for so many people. Take a look at these 4 core pain points associated with perfectionism:

1. Consistent guilt and disappointment
2. Mental and bodily health disorders
3. Decreased efficiency and productivity
4. Broken relationships

So, today I want to talk about these 4 key pain points as they relate to minimalism and perfectionism.

#1. Consistent Guilt And Disappointment

Nobody can achieve perfection in any area of life. Period. You’re going to be sorely disappointed if you embark on anything with the expectation of perfection.

But a perfectionist will expect an end goal of perfection in everything they do. They have an uncontrollable compulsion to constantly correct until each task is seen as flawless.

And, what happens when you fall short of every single goal you set for yourself?

Ooph, you feel incredibly disappointed and defeated. Years of this can easily accumulate into an attitude of resentment and chronic guilt. Nothing is ever good enough. They are never good enough.

Chronic guilt is a miserable heart-sinking emotion that can become a habit in itself and will suck the joy out of your life if you don’t put an end to it.

The foundational purpose of minimalism is to prioritize and simplify. This makes achieving tasks and completing projects much more manageable- even the simple ones like cleaning the house. Complexity is a recipe for failure.

Also, as you’ll see, properly aligning priorities is a great antidote to chronic guilt.

This streamlining helps to alleviate the guilt of uncompleted or massively piled-up tasks. It also prevents guilt associated with our belongings related to neglected items and wasted money. (Not to mention guilt associated with relationships but we’ll get to that in a second).

#2. Mental And Bodily Health Disorders

Constant guilt and feelings of inadequacy domino into anxiety, depression, and addiction for many perfectionists. Waiting for that perfect moment or situation to experience happiness may result in a reality of perpetual unhappiness.

In addition, serious perfectionists will do anything to achieve that perfect goal. This typically includes putting in any hours necessary, even to the detriment of other life-sustaining factors such as sleeping, eating, personal relationships, and general self-care.

The lack of self-care coupled with an attempt to obtain the unattainable often increases stress levels to unmanageable heights. And I’m sure you’ve heard the incredible health detriments associated with chronic stress.

Good news, less clutter has been proven to correlate to a healthier, happier life!

You can see all about it in this research article on ‘The Psychological Effects of Clutter.‘ In a nutshell, clutter has a direct stress response and can lead to anxiety, depression, and social isolation. Not to mention, when clutter is removed there are fewer areas for dust, hidden messes, and allergens that damage health.

#3. Decreased Efficiency And Productivity

You might think, “ok, so perfectionists sacrifice their health and sanity but it must be damned efficient for the task at hand, right?”.

Wrong. Perfectionism is actually the leading excuse for procrastination. “Oh, I know I should get this website published already but I’m such a perfectionist!” A study published in the National Library of Medicine says,

“perfectionism may represent a form of counterproductive overstriving that limits research productivity”

Steinert, C., Heim, N., & Leichsenring, F. (2021)

Because the end result must be “perfect”, a perfectionist cannot move on until the associated pieces are deemed flawless. A task that might have been completed in a few hours may take weeks, months, years, or may never be completed at all.

Minimalism is all about efficiency.

It is about reserving your resources: time, energy, and focus. When you increase these resources you can accomplish worlds more! Having fewer distractions, belongings, and tasks increases a sense of direction of priority. It’s easier to get into that highly sought-after state of flow.

I know that there’s high praise in society for the ‘busy multitasker’ but it is much smarter to remove the unnecessary tasks and super-charge your resources for the essential.

#4. Broken Relationships

This is the big one. Because perfectionists dump excess time, mental, and health resources into the art of perfecting, relationships often get the backburner. Or worse, the relationship becomes the focus of the perfectionist’s expectations. Not to mention, I’m sure you can guess that those feelings of guilt and inadequacy discussed earlier aren’t the most attractive qualities.

It’s not intentional, it’s more of a compulsion. Still, this highjacking of focus and time ruins relationships.

On the other hand, the extreme prioritization and pruning of excess that minimalism brings provide a space to heal and cultivate relationships.

You have time for what matters- for WHO matters- and you have the space to be in the present without distractions.

Minimalist Living Vs Perfectionism

I could go on and on about the horrible qualities of perfectionism but you get the point. Regardless of the level of streamlining and reduction you choose to take on, it’s important to prioritize and make space for the things that matter.

Hopefully, you can see that, when it comes to minimalism and perfectionism, the two are fundamentally different.

Don’t fall into the trap of perfectionism, thinking it will help you to control your life. That control isn’t real. Instead, strive for simplicity and prioritization.