# perfectionism (zero-width)

a self-model whose window has been narrowed to nothing, so each parameter value reads as outside and maintenance never stops.

- Computed level: L17 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: psychology

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [self-model](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-self-model.reflexive), [self](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-self.personal), [model](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-model.representation), [window](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-window.range), [narrow](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-narrow.spatial), [nothing](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-nothing.absence), [parameter](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-parameter.condition), [value](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-value.worth), [read](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-read.information), [outside](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-outside.spatial), [maintenance](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-maintenance.upkeep), [never](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-never.temporal), [stop](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-stop.action)

**Through:** The acceptance window is narrowed until it has no interior, so no achievable parameter value can ever register as inside, and the corrective maintenance that a window normally terminates runs without a stopping condition.

**Novel properties:**
- uninhabitable acceptance window
- unterminating correction
- success-proof evaluation

## Examples
- A writer revises the first chapter for years because every draft reads as a failed version of the unwritten one. *(culture)*
- A pixel-perfect design review rejects every build, so the product ships on a deadline exception instead of an approval. *(engineering)*
- A gymnast scores near the maximum and files the routine with the failures. *(sport)*

---
*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-perfectionism.zero-width*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-perfectionism.zero-width.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*