If you’re struggling to let go of some of your perfectionistic tendencies, or managing someone who is, it can be helpful to remember the ways perfectionists can self-sabotage in the workplace. Among these are struggling to make decisions (because none of them seem optimal), worrying over sunk costs, avoiding challenges (to avoid failure), applying excessively high standards to others, and ruminating about failures or weaknesses. All of these will hurt performance at work. To overcome these kinds of challenges, perfectionists can develop heuristics for faster decision-making, focus on learning from past successes, try to focus on improving by 1% rather than being totally perfect, and learn strategies to disrupt rumination.

Many strategic plans aren’t strategic, or even plans. To fix that, try a six step process: first, identify key stakeholders. Second, identify a specific, very important key stakeholder: your target customer. Third, figure out what these stakeholders want from you. Fourth, figure out what you want from them. Fifth, design your strategy around these requirements. Sixth, focus on continuously improving this plan.