Boundaries, only important in cricket?

Creating boundaries becomes so important as we grow old, get into relationships, get jobs, have kids, play cricket huh?

While sometimes obsession becomes the key to driving us forward, people like me forget to draw visible lines and often expect so much that in the process we get hurt and withdraw until we find our next obsession. Well, then another,  and another ...

Once while having a heated conversation, I told this guy I knew - I did this, that, blah, blah blah for you and you didn't respect it at all. He replied saying - well I never asked you to do any of that stuff. That was it. He was right. He never did ask me to give it my 100percent. It was definitely my lack of ability to draw "the line" and his perfect ability to introduce me to reality.

Its not only personal, even when it came to university work, I would get so obsessed with the presentation factor of my project that sometimes I would drive myself crazy finishing it. And a professor would have the same view. - I never asked you to do that. This is a classic case of obsession with perfection.

I try, try so hard to drill it my head that even if I manage to get it 80percent correct, it should be fine but NO, when I actually start working the same 80percent seems so mediocre. Even on the professional front, I've followed the same motto - do it best or don't do it at all. When narrated to others, this habit might seem very good but it morally ruins a person. A glitch in my work can make me beat myself up for hours or even days.

I still remember and the fact that I do is testimony of the impact this incident has had on me.  Appearing for my school admission interview,  I was asked to write the spellings for tree and being brought up in an entirely different schooling system prior to that, we had just finished three letter words. I couldn't spell it correctly and the principal mentioned it to my mum later even though rest of my paper was crisp and correct. It meant cent percent was the standard set and in no way could I not achieve that!

I get thoughts and dreams of imperfect work, work not getting done in time, incomplete preparation of syllabus for an exam, font/size differences in an important email and so on. These are not even the representation of the slightest gravity of problems that would come in one's way as time goes by. What I'm trying to say is that how does one influence oneself to believe that one's doing a great job? Constant appreciation or someone's belief?  Moreover how does someone expect others to do a job just like they would do it? Phew its going to be a tough tough life ahead. Wait, there I go again...haha