SmackerNews

0 points · 0 comments · 9 years ago · JumpCrisscross

news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12729864

Part of the problem is our culture lauds perfectionism as a case of someone caring too much or being too ambitious. That's not what it is.

Perfectionism is a failure to optimize across a complex goal space, settling, instead, on ignoring the difficult (and beautifully complex) prioritisation problem in favour of over-optimizing a limited set of easily-defined goals ("getting an A") over longer-run priorities ("being a fulfilled and productive citizen").

nostromo9 years ago
A long time ago I noticed a trend in job listings. Words you would associate with perfectionism (detail-oriented, accurate, etc.) are usually used with lower-paid and lower-status jobs. For example: admins, data-entry, etc.
Words you see in higher-paid and higher-status jobs often focus on strategy and planning in a complex goal space, as you note.
What's interesting about our education system is we focus a lot on precision and accuracy and not that much on strategy and planning. It seems like a system built to produce accountants and actuaries more than a new generation of entrepreneurs.
twentythree9 years ago
I hadn't heard that before, but I like that way of thinking about it. It reminds me a bit of Goodhart's Law: "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure". Good grades might be a good measure of a student's performance, but when we focus on optimizing the grades themselves, they become less useful as a metric.
When I was in high school, there were some students who wouldn't take a class if it wasn't weighted, because it would bring down their overall GPA; even if it was an interest of theirs, they were worried that the effect on their class rank would hurt their college admissions chances.
tgb9 years ago
This is a good point, but I think the "magic" of perfectionism is that it hides the upper bound: if you get a 1598 out of 1600 on the SAT, then you're quite smart; if you get a 1600, then who knows, you could be infinitely smart.
tomcam9 years ago
Perfectionism is a failure to optimize across a complex goal space
Damn, I like that definition
etrautmann9 years ago
Great perspective - your comment might be one of those subtle nudges that has a sigficant impact for me when integrated over a long period of time.
[deleted]
eeZah7Ux9 years ago
"being a fulfilled and productive citizen"
Sounds like a quote from a dystopian movie. You gave me the creeps.
eli_gottlieb9 years ago
That sounds nice. Now try getting into a PhD program with Bs.

news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12729864

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SmackerNews

0 points · 0 comments · 9 years ago · JumpCrisscross

news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12729864

Part of the problem is our culture lauds perfectionism as a case of someone caring too much or being too ambitious. That's not what it is.

nostromo9 years ago
A long time ago I noticed a trend in job listings. Words you would associate with perfectionism (detail-oriented, accurate, etc.) are usually used with lower-paid and lower-status jobs. For example: admins, data-entry, etc.
Words you see in higher-paid and higher-status jobs often focus on strategy and planning in a complex goal space, as you note.
What's interesting about our education system is we focus a lot on precision and accuracy and not that much on strategy and planning. It seems like a system built to produce accountants and actuaries more than a new generation of entrepreneurs.
twentythree9 years ago
I hadn't heard that before, but I like that way of thinking about it. It reminds me a bit of Goodhart's Law: "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure". Good grades might be a good measure of a student's performance, but when we focus on optimizing the grades themselves, they become less useful as a metric.
When I was in high school, there were some students who wouldn't take a class if it wasn't weighted, because it would bring down their overall GPA; even if it was an interest of theirs, they were worried that the effect on their class rank would hurt their college admissions chances.
tgb9 years ago
This is a good point, but I think the "magic" of perfectionism is that it hides the upper bound: if you get a 1598 out of 1600 on the SAT, then you're quite smart; if you get a 1600, then who knows, you could be infinitely smart.
tomcam9 years ago
Perfectionism is a failure to optimize across a complex goal space
Damn, I like that definition
etrautmann9 years ago
Great perspective - your comment might be one of those subtle nudges that has a sigficant impact for me when integrated over a long period of time.
[deleted]
eeZah7Ux9 years ago
"being a fulfilled and productive citizen"
Sounds like a quote from a dystopian movie. You gave me the creeps.
eli_gottlieb9 years ago
That sounds nice. Now try getting into a PhD program with Bs.

news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12729864