I know of very few perfectionists who think they are perfect. In fact, most perfectionist I know (including myself) are continuously beating themselves up for not finishing projects, spending too much time on parts of the project while the important part never gets done, and generally feeling out of control when they are unable to get started due to fear of doing it wrong.

Yes, there are a few folks who think they are perfect and snootily proclaim that others are lesser, but the great majority of perfectionists that I know feel frustrated.

EMC^2

I love this article.
I can see why people who are in favor of perfectionism are actually perfectionists. Those who are arguing if a surgeon do a 70% quality job or a geographic mapper putting off 1 mm on a scaled map are missing the main purpose of the article. While it is not reasonable to trade off quality over quantity, it does not do to be meticulous and fail to deliver results and jeopardizing a project as a whole. Perfectionism is the attempt of trying (and desperately in need) to be perfect, while being a “professional” are people who are trained to make certain decisions under certain circumstances. What if this “professional” is also a “perfectionist”? Decisions would not be made and projects would fail to meet deadlines. If a surgeon looks through every single detail to the point where his stitches have to be perfectly aligned, each stitch has to be 1/2 mm, not too close, not too far,…. etc. How much time would be wasted while he could’ve treated other patients.
Being perfect at what you do does not mean you are a perfectionist. Trying to be perfect does not necessarily make you perfect at what you do either. There has to be a line drawn between quantity and quality.
I never had a true education in the US, therefor, my writing skills are far from perfect.