You only need a 93 to get an A.

As a card carrying perfectionist, I tend to have difficulty with closure.  Since I want everything to be perfect I fall into the trap of thinking that I need to keep working in order to produce a result that I can be proud of, even when I have already done a terrific job.

Perhaps it's because when I brought home a 98 on a test, my mother always asked me - what happened to the other two points?

But, time has shown that I am the one who relishes perfection in an imperfect world.

That's where the concept of diminishing returns comes in.  Simply put, in every project you reach a tipping point.  From that point on more work yields fewer rewards.  So, you should wrap things up and move on.  The trick of course recognizing when you have reached that point.  Easier said than done.

But when I began teaching, I realized something significant.  You don't need to be perfect to be excellent.  You only need a 93 to get an A.  ;-)

Competitive or perfectionist - which one are you?

H.L. Mencken defined wealth as "any income that is at least $100 more a year than the income of one's wife's sister's husband." (1949)

We call that positional concerns.  

From an anthropological standpoint survival depends upon belonging to the tribe.  Ideally we have enough in common with the tribe to accepted as a member, but bring enough value-added that we are prized within the tribe. 

And since status is relative, people compete to be seen as the most valuable players.  Sometimes they want to be the richest, other times they want to brag about the colleges their kids attend.  Whatever they think will give them an edge.

Myers-Briggs tells us that ~60% of us value relationships over task - so the majority of us probably compete for elevated status within the tribe.

Perfectionists on the other hand march to a different drummer.  If all you care about is being perfect then you don't care about your performance relative to others.  You just want to be perfect.

So while most people would be content with a 98 out of 100 on a test, as long as it was the best grade given, perfectionists will focus on those other two points regardless.

Knowing which type of person you are dealing with is the key to motivating them.  So, which one are you?

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/H._L._Mencken