Perfectionism

People are sometimes concerned that if they become less perfectionistic, the quality or amount of work they produce will decrease. However, it’s actually shown that people who become less perfectionistic often become more productive and have a higher quality of work.

Why is this the case? Because perfectionism is simply a behaviour or a set of behaviours. And all behaviours have functions (or to put it simply, every behaviour has a reason). If you have perfectionism issues, then the function of your perfectionistic symptoms is likely avoidance. 

For example, perfectionism issues can be an avoidance mechanism when faced with criticism or emotions towards other people. If you can become comfortable with whatever experience you’re trying to avoid, perfectionism issues can ease off, resulting in fewer problems for you. This also means that if something is really important to you (i.e. a creative project or something at work or school), then you can still be perfectionistic about it if you want to be, and if it is helpful to do so (so you might end up working harder and more effectively).

The goal in working on perfectionism is to be more flexible and comfortable with yourself, resulting in less anxiety, procrastination, self-attacking, more fulfilment in work and activities, and so forth. The goal is not to do less work or lower quality work unless that would be helpful (for example, people might still want to have a high standard at work or school but they can relax when it comes to writing texts to a friend).

Working with a psychologist like me can be a game changer when it comes to managing perfectionism. Together, we can understand the impact perfectionism issues are having on you, and what they’re rooted in, and we can help you get comfortable with yourself so that you are in control of your standards instead of your standards being in control of you.