Pattanapong Kuangkaew | Twenty20
You might think your perfectionist streak reflects your ambitions.
“Perfectionism is anxiety,” says Aarons Mele, host “The Anxious Achiever” Podcast And the author of “Hiding in the Bathroom: An Introvert’s Roadmap to Getting Out There (When Youd rather Stay Home)” tells CNBC Make It.
Too many people think, “If we’re not 100%, if we’re not perfect, it’s up to us.” “It’s not about our work. It’s about our inherent values.”
Perfectionism among young adults has increased significantly since the 1980s, It has fueled social media and the tendency of people to measure themselves against the success of their peers at school and work. 2018 American Psychological Association Study.
When you set unrealistically high standards for yourself, intense mental strain.
“Two in five children and adolescents are perfectionists,” says Kate Rasmussen, a psychologist who studies child development and perfectionism. told the BBC 2018. “We’re starting to talk about heading towards epidemics and public health issues.”
Forgetting the hardest part of perfectionist tendencies can start today, says Aarons-Mellet. Method is as follows.
There’s a reason you’ve clung to your perfectionist tendencies for so long, says Aarons Mele.
the perfectionist more motivated than a perfectionistresearch shows that only the constant pursuit of perfection can make you feel like you’re on track.
But the benefits don’t end there.perfectionism causes low self worth, high stress and Depression and Anxiety DisordersYour Work Suffers, Too: By not completing tasks efficiently, perfectionists actually pay off lower quality work than they can do As a result, it was discovered in 2009 by researchers at Trinity Western University in Canada.
In the long run, perfectionism usually leads people down one of two paths, neither of which is good for you, says Aarons-Mele. Either you work too much until you’re completely burned out, or you feel the stakes are too high and you procrastinate endlessly.
Her first steps in dealing with the problem are simple. Start paying attention to when and where problems arise in your life. Too worried about an upcoming project to even open a Google doc, and is she glued to her laptop late at night, vowing she’ll have a perfect report in an hour’s work?
Aarons-Mellet says the more you know your tendencies, the more focused you can be on changing them.
If perfectionist tendencies are significantly interfering with your life or work performance, Aarons-Melleh stresses the need to seek professional help.Given the link between perfectionist tendencies and anxietythere’s likely an underlying cause that an expert can help you resolve, she says.
Otherwise, Aarons-Mele suggests setting some “ground rules” so that actions do not match the strength of thought.
That might mean putting a time limit on a project that makes you want to overdo it. Think realistically about what is possible and aim to work in less time than usual. If your project shouldn’t take eight hours, don’t take eight hours.
Instead, plan ahead and determine your own pace. Give each task a short deadline, and by the end of the eight hours, stay on track and have something that looks good, if not perfect.
Or, if you’re too nervous to start a project because you want it to be completely successful, set small, specific goals to help yourself move forward. These benchmarks are very few. Open Google Docs and write an email. The idea is to give yourself some momentum.
These strategies will only work if you treat yourself with compassion and continue to resist voices telling you that everything needs to be perfect, says Aarons Mele. : “I’m a wonderful, wonderful person with no anxiety or pressure.
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