“Boring is the same pedantry. In principle, a very valuable quality, ”wrote Boris Akunin. Would you like to learn how to manage your pedantry? Yes, not to get rid of, but to learn to use responsibility and obligation to your advantage. It is possible. You just need to spice up diligence with charm and tact. Read more about how to make friends with your pedantry in the article.
What is pedantry
Pedantry – the desire of a person to strictly adhere to formalities and rules, to absolute precision and accuracy in actions. This is an accentuation of character. In the classification of personality types, the German psychiatrist Karl Leonhard distinguished the pedantic personality type. Here’s how the author described it:
- Weak displacement mechanisms. It is difficult for a pedant to make a quick decision, he thinks about the idea and its implementation for a long time, analyzes all possible options and looks for the best one. He is reasonable and thorough, not only at work, but also at home. Even buying a cup will end up with calculations and measurements of the pedant, tantrums and arguments with his wife (husband).
- The desire to bring what has been started to the end. The pedant will never deviate from the intended tasks and requirements. He can sacrifice food, sleep, family for the sake of completing the work he has begun.
- The seriousness and scrupulousness (accuracy, thoroughness in the little things) of pedants are perceived by the people around them as boring.
- Rigidity, that is, unwillingness and inability to respond to changing environmental conditions, to change according to the requirements, to overstep their principles.
- Inability to deal with trauma. The pedant does not know how to displace them, he will come back again and again in his memories, delve into himself, reproach and think about how he should have done otherwise.
- Constant doubts and self-tests, leading to indecision.
However, the same minuses of the pedantic type are pluses, for example, indecision makes the pedant a non-conflict person. He knows that he needs a lot of time to make a decision or select arguments, so he avoids controversial situations. But if the question arises of non-observance of the rules, then the pedant is able not only to conflict, but to show aggression and even rage.
Pedants are conscientious, accurate and punctual. In individual work with enough time, they are second to none. But in the face of tight deadlines, extreme situations or frequent changes of circumstances, they will not be able to work productively. Teamwork will also challenge the pedant’s nervous system and his colleagues.
The whole life of a pedant is a continuous order, structure and system of rules. He does not like it when other people violate his foundations, from which in his personal life pedantic types are often lonely.
Pedant and Perfectionist: Differences and Similarities
Pedants are often confused with perfectionists. These concepts are really similar, pedantry can cause perfectionism, but there is an essential difference: a pedantic person strives for order, and a perfectionist – for the ideal.
Other differences between pedantry and perfectionism:
- The pedant focuses on self-esteem, internal requirements and beliefs. An external assessment is important for a perfectionist, his self-esteem depends on it.
- The perfectionist strives for the ideal, for which he is able to look for new solutions. The pedant is conservative.
- The pedant has more developed objectivism, for example, it is not the idea of affairs and the opinion of people that are important to him, but the form of implementation and compliance with requirements even in small things.
- Unlike a perfectionist, a pedant can be happy with the result if everything is done strictly according to the rules.
A pedant and a perfectionist have similar personality traits: increased anxiety, obsession with failures and negative experiences, doubts about the correctness of their actions and choices.
Signs of a pedantic person
Thus, the main features of a pedant include:
- scrupulousness;
- striving for order in everything, including the little things;
- attention to detail, turning into pettiness;
- careful and accurate performance of work;
- slowness in making decisions, thinking over all the little things, searching for the best option;
- the need to bring the work started to the end;
- reliability and responsibility.
Pedants are difficult to talk to. They need to know everything exactly, for sure and concretely. Everything is important to them, each remark should make sense and be supported by facts. Therefore, for other people, a pedant becomes a bore. He does not know how to chat “just like that”, “for the sake of a joke,” etc. He finds fault with words and phrases.
Outwardly, all pedants are alike. Their appearance, as a rule, is also thought out to the smallest detail. But the internal norms by which pedants live are different.
Causes of pedantry
Pedantic tendencies are formed in childhood. Their development is due to the demanding style of family education. If authoritative parents deprived the child of freedom and independence, then in adulthood he will come up with a framework for himself.
The second reason for the development of pedantry is the lack of a sense of security. If in childhood the child felt danger and failure, then in adulthood there will be a need to control everything. The slightest weakness in the understanding of a pedant is loss of stability, vulnerability, loss of security.
How to get rid of excessive pedantry
“Politeness and good manners are absolutely essential in order to adorn any other virtue and talents. Without them, a scientist turns into a pedant, a philosopher turns into a cynic, a military man turns into a brute, ”F. Chesterfield.
Society needs pedantic people, they develop and enforce social norms, help avoid chaos, and organize production. But pedantry becomes dangerous for the person himself when it turns into obsessions and compulsive actions. For example, one broken plate can force you to throw out the entire set and buy a new one.
Excessive pedantry must be eliminated, brought to the norm:
- The pedant is driven by rationality. Accordingly, it is possible to reduce the severity of accentuation due to the development of the emotional sphere. Learn to understand other people and not be demanding. Perhaps the person is tired and therefore looks rumpled – he wrote the report all night. And because of the “blurry” look, I made a couple of mistakes.
- Learn to understand the individual characteristics of people. Not everyone can be naturally active and attentive.
- Pedantry interferes with development. Remember how long you have been marking time in one place? Chart the “thieves of time and energy”. What useless things do you get hung up on?
- Make a plan for the coming months. What do you want to achieve? What do you need to do for this? How does what you are doing now relate to this?
- Realize that discoveries come from moments of experimentation, error, and deviation from the rules. If you don’t consider alternatives, how do you find a more effective way to solve the problem?
- Allow chaos to come into your life. Ask colleagues and family to help you. Conclude an agreement that for two days you will not arrange things according to your own rules and will not demand this from others (come up with the subject of an agreement regarding your behavior patterns). The goal is to understand that this does not affect life. Monitor your condition, describe your feelings.
- Learn to limit the time spent on assignments. At the same time, make a plan in advance (from major to minor).
- Find a hobby and / or profession that will satisfy the need for learning details (calculations, modeling, paperwork, proofreading, chess). This will be your outlet. Leave pedantry only there, this will make it rational.
- From French pedant is translated as “teacher”. A pedantic person is convinced of his own righteousness and does not recognize other opinions, strives to teach everyone. It is necessary to respect others, learn to communicate and empathy.
Realize that you are wasting your time and life on little things. Isn’t it worth redirecting attention and potential to something more important and valuable? Define a goal in life and a plan for its implementation. By the way, your pedantry will help to comply with it. Yes, it will be unusual at first to be guided by deadlines, but this is necessary in order to learn how to highlight the main thing and move forward.
Epilogue
Pedantry becomes a problem when it goes beyond the rational, that is, it transforms into obsessions or a systematic lack of time. Irrational pedantry, in turn, turns into obsessive-compulsive disorder, for example, a person places books strictly from high to low, puts shoes on one line.
Rational pedantry does not interfere with life and is a useful habit. A person decides for himself (gives instructions) that, for example, at work he will strictly adhere to all the rules and double-check the documents. And at home with friends, the same person can easily forget to wash their hands or brush their teeth, and the dust will lie on the closet for another day if the rational pedant is very tired at work.
If a person is prone to pedantry (and there are 20% of the population), then the problem that has manifested itself will never go away completely. You need to learn to apply yourself in the appropriate areas. Pedantry is not a problem, but a personality trait that is in demand in design, construction, editing, etc.
Watch the video on the pedantic personality type (from 9:26 minutes):
