"Be a perfectionist"
About this Quote
Two words that sound like a self-help bumper sticker but carry the quiet menace of a deadline. Coming from Ken Follett - a novelist whose brand is sweeping architecture (cathedrals, kingdoms, conspiracies) held up by obsessive scaffolding - "Be a perfectionist" reads less like motivational fluff and more like a work ethic confession.
The intent is practical, almost industrial: craft is cumulative, and small errors compound. Follett writes books that must feel inevitable, where the reader should never see the joints. In that kind of storytelling, "good enough" is how you lose trust. A misstep in pacing, a wobbly historical detail, a character who behaves conveniently instead of convincingly - any of it can break the spell. Perfectionism here isn’t preciousness; it’s reader respect, the insistence that immersion is earned line by line.
The subtext, though, is thornier. Perfectionism is often framed as a personality glitch, a recipe for paralysis. Follett flips it into a professional advantage: not a neurosis, but a discipline. That reframing quietly challenges the modern creative economy’s fetish for speed, output, and "content". It suggests that the real flex isn’t productivity; it’s revision, restraint, the willingness to do the unglamorous pass that makes the glamorous moment possible.
Context matters: Follett emerged in a publishing world where doorstoppers were events and research was a selling point. "Be a perfectionist" is a reminder that longevity in a noisy culture often comes from the unsexy promise that your work won’t waste the audience’s time.
The intent is practical, almost industrial: craft is cumulative, and small errors compound. Follett writes books that must feel inevitable, where the reader should never see the joints. In that kind of storytelling, "good enough" is how you lose trust. A misstep in pacing, a wobbly historical detail, a character who behaves conveniently instead of convincingly - any of it can break the spell. Perfectionism here isn’t preciousness; it’s reader respect, the insistence that immersion is earned line by line.
The subtext, though, is thornier. Perfectionism is often framed as a personality glitch, a recipe for paralysis. Follett flips it into a professional advantage: not a neurosis, but a discipline. That reframing quietly challenges the modern creative economy’s fetish for speed, output, and "content". It suggests that the real flex isn’t productivity; it’s revision, restraint, the willingness to do the unglamorous pass that makes the glamorous moment possible.
Context matters: Follett emerged in a publishing world where doorstoppers were events and research was a selling point. "Be a perfectionist" is a reminder that longevity in a noisy culture often comes from the unsexy promise that your work won’t waste the audience’s time.
Quote Details
| Topic | Self-Improvement |
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