It’s important to hold yourself to high standards, but when taken to the extreme, expecting nothing but the best from ourselves can morph into perfectionism, which, despite its advantages, can undermine morale and wellbeing. If you exhibit perfectionist behaviors, here are five ways to deal with them.
Set Realistic Goals
Setting goals that aren’t doable is the primary mistake perfectionists make that can trigger anxiety and even depression. For instance, given my below average height and terrible basketball skills, a goal to join the NBA next year is totally unworkable. Such a goal will not only fail, but will leave me dejected.
The lesson to remember here is to set reasonable goals, and when you reach them, raise the bar. And if you don’t realize your goal, rather than chastising yourself, embrace the lessons you learned along the way and how falling short of your goal has helped you improved. Progress trumps perfection. So, as long as you are progressing, you are on the right track.
Try Negative Visualization
Visualization or mental rehearsal involves forming a clear mental picture of our desired goal. While it is essential to visualize ourselves achieving your goal as clearly as possible, it’s also vital we create mental images of us failing to reach our objective. This process known as negative visualization, popularized by the Stoics, is also called a premortem. According to psychologist Gary Klein, in a premortem, you must envision what could go wrong—what will go wrong—in advance. That simple exercise can enable you to make more informed decisions and quash your perfectionist tendencies to get better prepared to cope with failure if it happens.
Practice Humility
Being humble is acknowledging and accepting our imperfections. Humility will enable you to challenge your black-and-white perception of reality, combat perfectionism, and develop self-confidence.
Don’t Compare Yourself to Others
Perfectionism could also stem from comparing ourselves to others. It’s impossible not to self-deprecate when we are constantly exposed to people’s glamorous lives on social media. Studies have shown that comparison leads to low self-esteem, which is linked to depression. It’s a pity most people spend their precious times admiring and coveting others while overlooking their blessings. Oscar Wilde’s quote “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken” is worth committing to memory.
Life is both a journey and a destination. Bachir Bastien
See Life as a Journey and a Destination
Overcoming perfectionism is about espousing a goal-oriented and process-oriented mindset. Knowing that the process is as important as the destination will help you defeat perfectionism by the willingness to experiment with novel ideas in the face of uncertainty.
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What are you going to do to cope with your perfectionism? Let us know in the comments below.
Life is a journey and a destination – I fully agree to this. Since about 30 years now I’m reflecting and contemplating about my personal goals for every single year. It has been a real learning journey: Some goals set too high, some goals have not really been goals but rather my phantasy. And the best of all: Because I could envision my goals with images and emotions alike, I reached many goals and live a happy life.
It’s an interesting view to also try negative visualization: Many coaches would recommend to focus on positive outcomes only. But how do professional athletes cope with a defeat (since there is only one winner taking it all)? Life goes on after all.
Of course we compare ourselves with others. The question is how much we depend on it. My annual goals are intrinsic motivation. Next I reach out to “learn from the best” which has become my motto. This way I am travelling my life journey to become the person I envision in the future.
Life is not perfect, and it shouldn’t be either. If it was: How should we strive for becoming a better self? Instead, life is interesting, exciting and thrilling: Every single day anew!
I totally agree with your observation. Thanks for sharing your insights.
Amazing way of looking at things
Thank you 🙏 Levi for commenting:)
great tips – thanks for sharing. wishing you a great 2023
Thank you for stopping by. I m working on it. Wish you nothing but success in 2023.
Nice post dude! It’s amazing ✌🤗👍🌹
Thank you Yaksh for stopping by and reading my blog 🙂
That’s always a pleasure dear friend!
By the way thanks to you also for visiting my page and following me too!
Have a good day dear
Stay happy and stay Connected 💕🤗✌🌹
Yeah! Let’s stay connected!
Yes absolutely 🤗👍
Bonito post. Un cordial saludo 👏
Muchas gracias !!! Gracias por leer mi articulo 🙂 Cordial saludo a ti tambien
An excellent post. Thank you 🙏
Thank you for reading:)
You are welcome 🙏
I always look for perfectionism in everything, sometimes it is frustrating; I guess, I really need to work on that!
Exactly! That’s definitely a problem that many of us need to deal with. Thank you for visiting and reading my post.