Being a perfectionist has its pros and its cons. While you are high performing, detail oriented and extremely qualified, your critical spirit makes it difficult to feel satisfied with your work because you consistently seek the highest standards.
Maintaining exceptionally high standards is commendable. Striving for excellence rather than settling for mediocrity is noble. However, when taken to extremes, your exacting standards can turn against you.
Your inflexibility results in heightened stress, anxiety, and a crippling fear of failure. You’re never happy with anything you do. You’re extremely critical of yourself and others, being quite difficult to work and live with. You feel out of control because the result of your work isn’t up to your standards. You work harder, and get frustrated because you just can’t do better. Your health gets worse. You feel depressed. The better you want to be, the more afraid you are to be bad. Then you stop and ask:
“What’s the worst thing that can happen if what I make isn’t perfect?”
And only when you accept that you or what you create doesn’t need to be flawless as long as it’s great, can you find relief.
Balancing high standards with self-compassion is a humbling, therapeutic exercise. Achieving this balance in the act of creation involves striving for excellence while acknowledging the relative importance of your work. You can be critical but also recognise your efforts. Details matter, but so does your health.
Although redefining success may seem daunting, it’s achievable. Embracing mistakes and imperfections doesn’t diminish your professionalism; it preserves your sanity.