I´m doing a work on perfectionism in my university, and i need you to answer a few easy questions about that,we´re doing this survey and then we´ll analysize the results, it´s very interesting…come on! it´s only 5 minutes…thank you…!!
Gender: Age: Nationality: Profession:
1-Your definition of perfectionism:
2-Is perfectionism a desirable character trait (yes/no and why?)
3-Are you a perfectionist? If not, would you like to be one and why?
4-Enumarate three characteristics that are peculiar to your country! To which extent did that influence the development of your character?
5-Do you feel guilty if you don’t accomplish a task thoroughly?
6-Do you prefer to work by yourself or with the help of others? Do you feel uneasy asking others for help? Why?
7-Do you plan everything in meticulous detail (by making lists for example)? Is it important for you to follow the plan? How do you feel if you don’t realise your plans?
8-Do you believe in yourself?
9-Is it important to you what others think of you? Do you feel uneasy while presenting your own ideas and beliefs because you’re afraid of being rejected?
10-Is it hard for you to make a decision because you’re afraid of making the wrong decision (especially if you have a lot of choices)?
11-How important is punctuality for you?
12-Do you collect things and is it difficult for you to throw things away? Why?
Gender: Male
Age: 21
Nationality: Canadian
Profession: grocery store employee
1-Your definition of perfectionism: to seek the Ideal results from your actions and choices
2-Is perfectionism a desirable character trait (yes/no and why?) both, to seek the Ideal result you will be certin to get the job done, but when you obsess over that Ideal you cause yourself undue stress
3-Are you a perfectionist? If not, would you like to be one and why? Sometimes
4-Enumarate three characteristics that are peculiar to your country! To which extent did that influence the development of your character? Acceptance, Kindness, and loyalty. the things we are allways taught but rarely understand, however if I were born without these traits around me I would likely be both Rich and Misserable
5-Do you feel guilty if you don’t accomplish a task thoroughly? sometimes
6-Do you prefer to work by yourself or with the help of others? Do you feel uneasy asking others for help? Why? I prefer to work on my own, but I understand that I sometimes need help from others, but I ask only when nessasary least I be a burden.
7-Do you plan everything in meticulous detail (by making lists for example)? Is it important for you to follow the plan? How do you feel if you don’t realise your plans? I make plan’s for long term goals and ongoing problems, the rest of the time I act naturally when I don’t realize my goals it leaves me sad but it also gives me an oppertunity to change so I do not fear it
8-Do you believe in yourself? Now more than ever before
9-Is it important to you what others think of you? Do you feel uneasy while presenting your own ideas and beliefs because you’re afraid of being rejected? I try not to concern myself with others, if they don’t like my Ideas that is their concern
10-Is it hard for you to make a decision because you’re afraid of making the wrong decision (especially if you have a lot of choices)? More so with the simple choices than the complicated ones, but it gernerally dosen’t bother me when I am the only one concerned
11-How important is punctuality for you? it’s not hard to be early, and it’s a lot easyer than trying to explain why you’re late
12-Do you collect things and is it difficult for you to throw things away? Why? Not particularly
Male, 28, American living in Norway, currently unemployed but may become a programmer.
I believe that anything that is in any way flawed or falls short of the ideal is not the real thing, but merely a substitute while we wait for real things. I believe it is the perfect things in between that give the world substance, while everything in the meantime is just a mimic of the possibility of a real thing. If there were no perfect things, the plethora of mimics would have no foundation. This is just the way I’ve always felt.
I like perfect things, so I should appreciate perfectionists for making things perfect (although I don’t know whether the people who make things I perceive as perfect – like certain songs – are usually perfectionists), while on the other hand, I could conjecture that perfectionism is some kind of a character flaw; that it’s better to just get things done than waste energy making them perfect or not do them at all; that perfectionism is impractical and lacks flexibility/adaptability/dynamicism; that there is beauty in imperfection and that appreciating it is a mark of maturity; that the origin of perfectionism is fear due to being highly criticized in childhood (which I suspect is true for my case). But I would not just assume that it’s generally or universally a character flaw without fully knowing the deal, because I never feel inclined to judge myself about things that are Just Me.
I am a perfectionist. I enjoy being a perfectionist because when I imagine doing something, I imagine doing it greatly, and perhaps one day I will actually even do something. That is the positive aspect. On the negative aspects I can only hypothesize, and it would be fruitless to do so because I’m just me.
I feel like I’ve grown in a vacuum and my developtment is completely independent of the characteristics of my country. That could be false. My girlfriend tends to think I’m ignorant (especially about geography and related fields) because I’m American, which I think is a convenient coincidence but that my soul has its own reasons for not caring about that kind of stuff. Perhaps the environment of people who don’t put much emphasis on that helped.
My girlfriend says that Americans put more emphasis on Success vis a vis perfectionism in comparison to other countries.
I am very individual and independent-thinking (and I KNOW that just about everyone fancies themselves to be individual, despite the evidence otherwise).
I feel that the only way being American has affected my personality is by my opinions re politics and Other People. (for example I think that capitalism is evil (for various reasons), that people are willfully ignorant of consumerism’s effects on the environment, and that an aristocracy is the best form of government. But here in Norway, where I’m staying, the populace is better informed about political issues, there are stricter rules about polluting the environment, etc.)
Yes, but I rarely do that; more often I just don’t complete it. : P and I do feel slightly guilty about having dozens of half-completed projects on the back burner.
I really prefer to work by myself. I will not put up with having to submit myself to other people’s ideas of how something should be done. My way is the best (and therefore, the only correct) way. There are other factors that make me want to work by my self–in a word, sociophobia.
I feel uneasy about asking almost anyone anything at any time, for the obvious reason. Other than that… I’m not sure… there are certain types of things I have never even considered asking anyone else for help on, and the other types of things, well, I just do what’s necessary.
I can make something up as I go along, but if it’s a project I usually come up with as much of it as I can in the beginning, just because it’s fun. I make lists sometimes, but only to make sure I don’t forget any of my great ideas. It’s only important for me to follow a plan when I’m reading cooking instructions or doing something someone else told me to do…
It’s a block for me if I can’t ‘realize my plans’ (as in do something the way I like), because I can’t just accept the limitations and move on with the projects.
I used to believe in myself a lot. Now, maybe…somewhat.
It is important to me what others think of me. I don’t feel uneasy presenting my ideas because I know my ideas are great, and I don’t feel uneasy about presenting my beliefs because I know my beliefs are correct.
Yes, but only if two or more choices seem equally desireable.
Not being punctual makes me happy…
I’ve collected lots of things. Foreign coins, pennies, coke cans and bottles, alarm clocks, soda can tabs, rubber bands, lights, mp3s, and maybe things I can’t think of atm. I decided one day that the reason is probably that I like to feel like I’m improving something in my life. If my collection is growing, that’s improvement. Also, I love to impress people. And show people my tastes.
It’s always been almost impossible for me to throw things away, even things that don’t work (because I think I might fix them some day). I hate throwing something away that could be useful, in the future. The funny thing is I have been able to use (or give away, which is also good) some things I’ve saved, but probably I could could count the number of times that happened on one hand.