The Nirvana Fallacy: When Perfectionism Leads to Unrealistic Solutions

Through talking to my supervisor, it became clear that my graveyard of projects was a product of self-handicapping . We avoid finishing projects because we can't stand the possibility that the finished product won't be as great or perfect as we envisioned it, which means we aren't as great as we think we are. Consider the violinist who intentionall... See more

We fail to see, or refuse to accept, that any attempt to bring our ideas into concrete reality must inevitably fall short of our dreams, no matter how brilliantly we succeed in carrying things off—because reality, unlike fantasy, is a realm in which we don’t have limitless control, and can’t possibly hope to meet our perfectionist standards. Someth... See more

We fail to see, or refuse to accept, that any attempt to bring our ideas into concrete reality must inevitably fall short of our dreams, no matter how brilliantly we succeed in carrying things off—because reality, unlike fantasy, is a realm in which we don’t have limitless control, and can’t possibly hope to meet our perfectionist standards. Someth... See more