Perfectionism seems to be the defining characteristic of our time. It wasn’t always held in such high regard.
By Bill Heavey
Aug. 9, 2023 5:54 pm ET
Wall Street Journal
There comes a moment in every job interview when the applicant will be asked to name his or her greatest weakness. “Well, I’d have to say it’s my perfectionism” is the smart answer, a humblebrag that is pretty short on humility. These days—as Thomas Curran writes in “The Perfection Trap: Embracing the Power of Good Enough”—this “weakness” is a strength. It assures a prospective employer of your commitment to the highest standards, “counted in hours of relentless striving, untold personal sacrifices, and heaps of self-imposed pressure.”
This book should be required reading for everyone involved in NY State Energy policy.. While the author applies it to life and economics, perfection is the enemy of the very good as far as our energy sources are concerned. The quest for a zero carbon system, using unhappiness and fear of climate change as a motivator, is going to leave dirty fossil fuel plants running decades longer than they would otherwise have, impose solutions upon state residents that don’t work, and actually raise carbon levels.
A low carbon system that is achievable is far better than zero carbon system that isn’t achievable because society won’t make the sacrifices for it or the technology doesn’t exist for it, or both. The name of NY State’s policy is even touched upon by the book. Even though it isn’t leadership, NY State had to call it “The Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act” lest it had the appearance of not being first or being left behind. The attitudes that Curran discusses have permeated the discussion to a point that if you aren’t for 100% renewables, you are branded as a climate denier by the Zero Carbon perfectionists. The passage below from the book, in italics, defines it perfectly.
Mr. Curran, an associate professor of psychology at the London School of Economics, writes that perfectionism “seems to be the defining characteristic of our time.” Our rise-and-grind work lives are animated by the notion that “if you’re slacking, slowing down or, worse, taking a moment to simply think about what all the relentless grinding is even for, then you’re going to be left behind.”
However, being first doesn’t always equate with being best. Having been an early adopter for years, I have discovered that sometimes it’s better to let someone else do it first, see where they screwed up, and then learn from what they did wrong so you can do it better. Unfortunately, in the case of NY State, everyone has seen where Germany screwed up trying for a perfect system, but NY is determined to duplicate the failed process anyway.
R. Ellenbogen