In in my last post about perfectionism, I’ve ended up posing a question: what makes an accomplished perfectionist? In other words, how does one balance the act of accomplishment with a strive for perfection? It’s a pretty thin line if you ask me, and in this post, I’m going to shed light on some of the techniques you can use to achieve that.
Accomplished perfectionism is the fusion of two separate genes: those that empower a person to get things done as quickly and efficiently as possible, and those that compels him or her to do their best possible job on these things.
To illustrate, take a look at the following phrases which are more likely to be said or thought by a carrier of each of these two genes:
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Are you a perfectionist? You know, are you the type of person who seeks completeness and flawlessness in every project and every single task you do? Do you obsess about the smallest of details, often times to the point of exhaustion? And does that often lead you to miss important deadlines, because “good” is simply just not “good enough”, at least for you?
If you’re anything like me, then you’ll resonate with symptoms of what’s called perfectionism. Being a perfectionist at work and college is something I’ve been very proud of, despite not being fully aware of it. Everybody I came to deal with including my boss and colleagues was impressed by the level of sophistication and professionalism I’d go about completing my tasks.
This, of course, also had its toll on me most of time. Long working hours in the office (by choice) trying to get that deliverable up to my standards and still meeting that deadline was the norm for me.
Then a couple of days ago I came across an article that was like a revelation. It made me realize that now I’m at this point in my career life where I have to make serious changes to my work habits if I want to be an accomplished person. This post is me trying to analyze that change and hopefully helping fellow perfectionists along the way.
I’m pretty sure you are probably wondering now: why is being a perfectionist something you would want to change? How does it ruin one’s professional life? Doesn’t it make you, I don’t know.. better than the others?
If you think about it (or have experienced it yourself) then you’d probably agree with me on this: perfectionism can get in the way of accomplishment. Well, at least a certain kind of perfectionism.
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I realized something a couple of days ago by reading an article that came as a sort of a wake-up call for me: being productive doesn’t necessarily make you an accomplished person!
I will elaborate on that so it makes little more sense to you:
There’s a common phrase I use quite often (especially at work) to describe the thing where you pretend to do something by acting as if you were really doing it, but never actually getting it done. It’s called going through the motions.
It amazes me how often we find ourselves inadvertently going through the motions of achieving things, doing everything we know we’re supposed or told to do, but eventually not reaching the finish line, or reaching it a bit too late.
I wasn’t aware of how guilty I am of this until I started my current job a couple of years ago and started to learn about the environment and work culture. Two years down the road, I’ve realized that what we actually do here at the company is far from trying to get projects done. We obsess very little about end results and a lot more about methodologies, frameworks, work policies, clearing our responsibilities and basically just getting the ball on to the other side.
Make no mistake, we do like to feel accomplished, and we’re actually getting paid to do so. But we’re lousy at that, and you know why? Because we think that by going through the motions of working on various projects, clearing many seemingly important tasks, being all productive and punctual, we’re bound to drive projects to the finish line. The only problem is, we usually don’t. Our projects carry on for years (I’m not exaggerating!). So what is it we’re doing wrong? Or to put it in a more general way:
How does going through the motions of accomplishing things not help us accomplish them?
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Despite my doubts and anxiety about the exam, I proved once again that I’m up for anything I set my mind to: I have successfully passed the Certified Usability Analyst (CUA) exam yesterday!
I waited till today to write about it because it took a little while to sink in. I mean, it’s over! The ambitious plan that started early this year with my attempt to get into the field of usability and gain some credentials has now been realized.
For new readers of this blog, Certified Usability Analyst (CUA) is a certification offered by the world-renowned usability consulting company called Human Factors International as an entry-level certification for usability professionals. It’s the perfect kick-start for people who are passionate about this field of science like me.
My plan to achieve this certification involved traveling all the way to India for a 10-days training course in July. That went pretty well. I came back and had about 2 months to study for and prepare for the certification exam. I wasted no effort reviewing all the course materials and reading lots of online and offline literature on this subject. Finally, I devised a strategy for taking the exam that involved creating a reference sheet (PDF) to lookup any piece of information I may need during the exam (it’s an open-book one). The latter proved very useful during the 2.5 hours, 100 questions exam.
With this certification under my belt, I’m now ready to delve into the world of usability and human-computer interaction. As a matter of fact, I already have a blueprint for a usability career plan. The steps of this plan go something like this:
- Establish professional credibility by way of certification and actual practice.
- Work towards bringing usability knowledge and practices into my workplace.
- Start a dedicated blog and write regularly about different topics in usability such as user-centered design.
- When I feel confident with enough usability work to back me up, I will start giving public speeches and training sessions.
What I’m really hoping to achieve is something bigger which is to bring the science of usability into this part of the world and make people (especially those involved in IT) aware of it’s critical importance. I honestly hope to look back on this post one day and say with confidence that I’m at least one step closer to achieving this grand plan of mine. It’s not completely selfless, as I’ll hopefully become famous for this effort. But in doing so, I’ll also make the lives of many, many people easier since the institutionalization of usability means we will start making (and using) many products that are usable, useful and effective. Everybody’s life will be easier. It’s what computers were always meant to do, and it’s up to us to make them do just that.
I’m back from India!
I’ve been on a 2-week trip to India attending a 10-day course series offered by the renowned usability consulting firm called Human Factors International (HFI) (read more in my original post).
So I’m now in Dubai airport with 8 hours of waiting time till my connecting flight back home. That’s plenty of time to reflect on the whole trip and that’s what I’m going to try and do here.
Overall, I’m really glad to say that objective of the trip was achieved in excess of what I’ve expected. I got out of the courses with such solid foundation of the material that it feels like money well spent. But what’s more important is that it reaffirmed my passion for this field since it was my first official exposure to the principles and methodologies followed in the world of usability and human-computer interaction design. I can safely say now that I’ve truly found my career passion!
For the rest of this post, I’m going to make a quick run through some of my observations and experiences during the trip in general. The outline will be as follows:
- Training courses
- First impressions
- Hotel
- Food
- City (Bangalore)
- People
- Funniest moments
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Four months in the making, the curtains are finally drawn on my first ever public speech which was, by all measures, a big success!
Of course, when we’re talking success here, we’re talking relative one taking in consideration this being kind of my first public one and the fact that it’s the first time I’m presenting this widely popular phenomenon, known as Web 2.0.
That being said, the speech wasn’t without fair share of flaws. I received some valuable feedback from the audience and the organizers. However, the general feedback was that this presentation was so awesome it’s a shame many people couldn’t make it. Well my friend, that is a good enough testament, for me, for now!
Let’s take a look at the good, the bad and the ratings.
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Yep .. finito.. over.. done .. finished .. call it what you want .. but i’m done with this. I’m officially recognized as a Micrsoft Certified Solution Developer for .NET Platform with focus on platform security. For none ITs out there, that’s some good stuff :)
If I did learn something out of it (i mean hell beside the actual material in it), it’s that with persistance and patience you can do just about anything you’ve ever wanted. Coz for me, this was something I wanted to achieve since my highschool was over. We’re talking 6 years here! Somehow I never got the energy or the right environment to pursue this certficiation. But after starting with this new job, I think I felt the need to make a standout from the talented people around me by achieving a certification which many of them didn’t have. And with the financial support from my company (yep .. I havn’t paid a penny for any of the 5 exams), it was the right time and the right place to do it.
It’s all so relieving to get something out of your way and be able to look out in the near horizon for something else exciting and new. I mean lets face it, always looking forward to something or anticipating what the future will bring along is what life’s all about. I would feel so dead if I don’t have anything to look forward to.
So what’s next in my agenda? Well, I know exactly whats it gonna be. Yep.. my Masters degree. I haven’t decided if i’m gonna do it online or the traditional way yet. But either way, I’m ready to qualify for admission. I just got my TOEFL score results back a week ago and they were pretty amazing.
Before that, though, I feel that I need to renew my religious vows, if you know what I mean. It’s like, in order to put everything wordly I achieve in perspective, there’s gotta a religious side, or intent, to it. I’m one of those who firmly believe that none of what we do in this life matters if we’re missing out on the purpose of our existence, and I think that’s the way to feel real happiness.
Yep .. thats me baby ! Just nailed the last of the three required exams today and now this pretty logo’s going right into my CV. There’ll also be a certificate (perfect for straight walls) and a pin (perfect for over-bragging) coming soon from Microsoft.
Anyway, it’s been a great journey. But it’s certainly not over yet. I’m just one exam away from the ultimate title for Microsoft software developers which is the MCSD (Microsoft Certified Solution Developer). I’ve scheduled this last exam a month from now so that should give a pretty good head start at studying. It’s gonna be hard (security-related exam) but I’m the man ;)
