There is an enemy out there that could sneak up on any genealogist at any time. All genealogists, from the amateur that started her research today to the professional that helps others with tough family history detective work, no one is immune from attack. The enemy that I speak of is not poor vision caused by squinting at tiny print on ancient records or spending hours on the computer doing research, nor is it an inability to speak in anything other than a whisper due to spending so much time in the library.
Who, or what, then is this enemy and how can genealogists avoid falling prey to an attack? The enemy is perfectionism, and it can cause even the most enamored genealogist to abandon his or her research, never to return to it again if the attack is severe enough. Perfectionism can attack anyone at any time, and can invade any area of a person’s life. How many of us have decided that we cannot invite guests over to our house on any given day because it is not perfectly clean. Or, we bake a cake for a dinner party that tastes great but looks a little lopsided so we end up leaving it at home and running to the store on the way to the party to grab something better looking that ends up lacking in taste or costing a bunch of money.
In order to prevent perfectionism from invading your genealogy work and taking all of the joy out of your pursuit of your roots, it is important to learn the signs of perfectionism as well as some coping strategies. Being detail-oriented is a necessary part of genealogy research. The more you learn about standards and source citations, though, the more likely you are to wonder whether the work you are doing is “good enough”. If you find yourself wondering this, it may be useful to remind yourself who you are and why you are doing this research.
If you are a professional and you are doing work for a client, then it is okay to be concerned about the quality of your methodology. However, do not let a desire to improve your techniques lead you to believe that for your work to be good enough it must be perfect. Do the best you can and stay abreast of the latest standards, and your work will be of good quality. If you are an amateur, ask yourself why you are doing genealogy research. If you want to get good at genealogy, don’t try to learn it all at once. Improve your skills gradually over time while doing your research and you will avoid getting overwhelmed. If you are just trying to learn about your family history and share it with others in the family, you may be able to relax a bit and concern yourself less with adhering to standards and more with delighting in the information that you uncover, even if it may not be complete. My hope is that any genealogist that comes under attack by perfectionism is able to get a grip on that monster before it steals their genealogy joy.