Alright, so this week I decided to tackle my Virgo boss situation head-on after our last project meeting crashed harder than my WiFi during a Zoom call. You know how it is – everything must be flawless yesterday, and that eyebrow twitch when he spots a typo? Yeah.
Facing the Perfectionism Monster
Last Monday, I purposely submitted the Q3 report 24 hours early knowing he’d rip it apart. Called him into the conference room like “Boss, need you to murder this draft with red pen.” Watched him actually smile when circling errors! Took notes on every single thing he corrected – even tracked that he uses Oxford commas but hates semicolons.
Tuesday morning, I redid that report using his exact formatting quirks. Put page numbers in the header exactly 1.25cm from the edge because he’d complained about that last month. Walked into his office waving the revised version: “Bet you can’t find three mistakes now!”
Cracking the Overthinking Code
Thursday budget meeting was my real test. Instead of my usual “maybe if we…” rambles, I brought printed copies of all three options with bullet-point risks beside each. Virgos love comparison tables! Stared dead at him when his fingers started drumming the table and cut in: “Option A’s risk timeline overlaps Q4 audits, but Option B’s vendor has faster response time. Your call?”
- Pre-empted every “what if” question with data
- Organized supporting docs in numbered tabs
- Brought his favorite black pens to sign approvals
Watched his shoulders actually relax. Even got a “Your preparation exceeds expectations.” Felt like winning the lottery!
Making Order Out of Their Chaos
Friday afternoon I noticed him muttering at a messy shared drive. Snuck in after hours and created folders labeled:
- 2023_Projects_FINAL
- Budget_Version_Approved
- Pending_HighPriority
Monday he did that fast-blinking thing when stressed… then emailed the team “Adopt the new folder structure immediately.” Even forwarded my naming conventions! Still can’t believe the demon spawn of spreadsheets approved my system.
Biggest takeaway? Fighting their nature just burns you out. Lean into the precision obsession like it’s free career training. Now when he starts correcting my grammar? I pull out a notebook and say “Teach me.” Dude beams like I gave him espresso.
