What is “Perfectionism”

Perfectionism can be defined as setting, working toward, and becoming preoccupied with idealized goals (what you want them to be) that are unrealistically ambitious. ** The problem is, “perfectionist” don’t see their goals as “unrealistic”, to them they are very “realistic” and achievable.

Why is “Perfectionism” Bad

Studies show that perfectionism is actually linked to a decline in achievement, have lower life satisfaction, depression and lower goal completion. They tend to be highly self-critical, have little self compassion for themselves or others, have high levels of self doubt, all of which leads to clinical anxiety and depression.

And for their social circles, perfectionist tend to deplete their social capital, resulting in frustrating or aggravating friends, family, and colleagues. Their high standards can rarely get met with satisfaction, resulting in being critical of others.

What To Look Out For

Just a few of the many behaviors that perfectionist have are:

• Having excessively high standards for yourself and or others.

• Having inflexible thinking for yourself and or others.

• Having avoidant behavior like procrastination.

• Feeling like the work is never finished.

• Checking and rechecking completed work, "just to make sure”.

• Feeling like you're not good enough or you could've done better.