Nothing feeds procrastination like perfectionism. Because the fear of mistakes disables all efforts to start a project. In her Psychology Today article, “Pitfalls of Perfectionism,” Hara Estroff Marano writes a comprehensive piece about perfectionism and gives us a better idea of why it’s an enemy to mental health. To get to her piece, click here. I have excerpted below.

If ever there was a blueprint for breeding psychological distress, that’s it. Perfectionism seeps into the psyche and creates a pervasive personality style. It keeps people from engaging in challenging experiences; they don’t get to discover what they truly like or to create their own identities. Perfectionism reduces playfulness and the assimilation of knowledge; if you’re always focused on your own performance and on defending yourself, you can’t focus on learning a task. Here’s the cosmic thigh-slapper: Because it lowers the ability to take risks, perfectionism reduces creativity and innovation–exactly what’s not adaptive in the global marketplace.

Yet, it does more. It is a steady source of negative emotions; rather than reaching toward something positive, those in its grip are focused on the very thing they most want to avoid–negative evaluation. Perfectionism, then, is an endless report card; it keeps people completely self-absorbed, engaged in perpetual self-evaluation–reaping relentless frustration and doomed to anxiety and depression.

No one knows this better than psychologist Randy O. Frost, a professor at Smith College. His research over the past two decades has helped define the dimensions of perfectionism. This, he’s found, is what perfectionism sounds like:

“If someone does a task at work or school better than me, then I feel like I failed the whole task.”

“Other people seem to accept lower standards from themselves than I do.”

“My parents want me to be the best at everything.”

“As a child, I was punished for doing things imperfectly.”

“I tend to get behind in my work because I repeat things over and over.”

“Neatness is very important to me.”

Each statement captures a facet of perfectionism:

Concern over mistakes: Perfectionists tend to interpret mistakes as equivalent to failure and to believe they will lose the respect of others following failure.

High personal standards: Perfectionists don’t just set very high standards but place excessive importance on those standards for self-evaluation.

Parental expectations: Perfectionists tend to believe their parents set very high goals for them.

Parental criticism: Perfectionists perceive that their parents are (or were) overly critical.

Doubting actions: Perfectionists doubt their ability to accomplish tasks.

Organization: Perfectionists tend to emphasize order.

To read “Pitfalls of Perfectionism,” click here.

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