Perfectionism

Perfectionism is a tough task master – always looking over your shoulder to see how you are doing, and always driving you to do better, work harder, and never really being completely satisfied with your performance.

Do you think trying to achieve perfection is a good goal?

It is amazing how much effort we can expend trying to get from “excellent” to “near perfect”. It’s exhausting! It can strip even fun things of all the potential joy and replace it with stress and pain.

Do you even have room in your thinking for the concept of “good enough”? Or for you does “good enough” sound like another way to say “failure”? If so, where did you get that message? Was it a parent or teacher or is it self-imposed?

It is true that there are some folks whose “good enough” – isn’t. Excellence isn’t a goal for them, or even adequacy. But my guess is that they wouldn’t be reading this post. They wouldn’t be attracted to the title.

Of course, no one can be perfect. So in their quest for perfection, perfectionists place their health in peril through stress and anxiety--and they can make other people's lives miserable. Working for a perfectionist boss is really tough since he or she will have unrealistic and unreasonable expectations of employees. Some physicians think perfectionism is a medical condition that should be categorized as a behavioral problem or psychiatric disorder. ...extreme forms of perfectionism should be considered an illness similar to narcissism, obsessive compulsiveness, dependent-personality disorder, and other personality disorders because of its links to distress and dysfunction,

If you are not sure if you are a perfectionist, read the list below and see how many of the signs you can identify with.  

Ten Top Signs Your a Perfectionist

1. You can't stop thinking about a mistake you made.
2. You are intensely competitive and can't stand doing worse than others.
3. You either want to do something "just right" or not at all.
4. You demand perfection from other people.
5. You won't ask for help if asking can be perceived as a flaw or weakness.
6. You will persist at a task long after other people have quit.
7. You are a faultfinder who must correct other people when they are wrong.
8. You are highly aware of other people's demands and expectations.
9. You are very self-conscious about making mistakes in front of other people.
10. You noticed the error in the title of this list.
Source: The BBC News Online

A scary warning for perfectionists: The impossible quest for perfection has been linked to a host of emotional, physical, and relationship problems, including depression, eating disorders, marital discord and even suicide.