{"id":1918,"date":"2009-08-13T09:30:33","date_gmt":"2009-08-13T09:30:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beyondblue\/2009\/08\/perfectionism-the-ultimate-pro.html"},"modified":"2009-08-13T09:30:33","modified_gmt":"2009-08-13T09:30:33","slug":"perfectionism-the-ultimate-pro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/2009\/08\/perfectionism-the-ultimate-pro.html","title":{"rendered":"Perfectionism: The Ultimate Procrastinator"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/a> writes a comprehensive piece about perfectionism<\/a> and gives us a better idea of why it’s an enemy to mental health. To get to her piece, click here.<\/a> I have excerpted below.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

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.<\/p>\n

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:<\/p>\n

“If someone does a task at work or school better than me, then I feel like I failed the whole task.”<\/p>\n

“Other people seem to accept lower standards from themselves than I do.”<\/p>\n

“My parents want me to be the best at everything.”<\/p>\n

“As a child, I was punished for doing things imperfectly.”<\/p>\n

“I tend to get behind in my work because I repeat things over and over.”<\/p>\n

“Neatness is very important to me.”<\/p>\n

Each statement captures a facet of perfectionism:<\/p>\n

Concern over mistakes:<\/b> Perfectionists tend to interpret mistakes as equivalent to failure and to believe they will lose the respect of others following failure.<\/p>\n

High personal standards:<\/b> Perfectionists don’t just set very high standards but place excessive importance on those standards for self-evaluation.<\/p>\n

Parental expectations:<\/b> Perfectionists tend to believe their parents set very high goals for them.<\/p>\n

Parental criticism:<\/b> Perfectionists perceive that their parents are (or were) overly critical.<\/p>\n

Doubting actions:<\/b> Perfectionists doubt their ability to accomplish tasks.<\/p>\n

Organization:<\/b> Perfectionists tend to emphasize order.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

To read “Pitfalls of Perfectionism,” click here.<\/a><\/p>\n

* Click here to <\/a>subscribe to Beyond Blue<\/a><\/b>!<\/a><\/i> And <\/i>c<\/i><\/a>lick here to follow Therese on Twitter<\/b><\/i><\/a>. And <\/i>click here to join Group Beyond Blue<\/b><\/i><\/a>, a depression support group. Now stop clicking.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mental-health"],"yoast_head":"\nPerfectionism: The Ultimate Procrastinator - Beyond Blue<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/2009\/08\/perfectionism-the-ultimate-pro.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Perfectionism: The Ultimate Procrastinator - Beyond Blue\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nothing feeds procrastination like perfectionism. 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