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The fierce desire for attainment of perfection strongly influences the psyche of individuals, turning them into slaves of success. People find themselves combating with the persistent will of attaining the optimal present and future quality of spiritual, mental, physical and material being. Although the perfectionist aspirations in the normal range, may take the person towards the high levels of performance, but in its pathological forms it can be hazardous as it forms a vicious circle around perfectionist and takes him or her to the world of work-holism, depression, fear of failure, low productivity, and procrastination (delaying in work) and more, where any thing less than 100% is considered a sin. The present study discusses the relationship between perfectionism and procrastination among people of two different cultures i.e. Indians born and brought up in India and non-resident Indians (NRI's). Who are residing in USA for at least 5 years using. The sample included 60 subjects comprising two groups, each comprising of 30 people (15 males and 15 females) within the age range of 20-45 years. The Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale by Frost et al (1990) and Procrastination Scale by Lay (1986) were used to collect relevant data. It was hypothesized that people living in India would be different on their perfectionist tendencies and procrastination levels as compared to those who are residing in USA. Results and implications are discussed in the paper.
Key Words: Perfectionist, procrastination, work-holism, NRI's
Perfectionism is a combination of thoughts and behaviors associated with excessively high standards or expectations for one's own or others' performance. Perfectionism is a belief that a person can and should attain a state of lawlessness because anything less than perfect is considered as a total failure. It can also be taken as a persistent will in obtaining the optimal present and future quality of spiritual, mental, physical, and material being. Perfectionists often have learned to assess their self-worth almost exclusively according to their life accomplishments or the approval and opinion of others.
The setting of goals seldom reflects what the perfectionists value, or want for themselves, but rather, goals are often set based on whether they will meet the expectations of others or not. According to Silverman (1999), "Perfectionism is an abstract concept. It is a...