Are you a perfectionist? If your immediate answer isn’t ‘no’, chances are you are. Perfectionism is a common theme during our coaching sessions. Wanting to deliver above and beyond good results. Preferably anytime, any place, at any cost. Both at work and at home. Did you know that it’s not smart at all to be perfect? Actually, striving for perfect results, goes at the expense of everything, and no one is better off. Not the results, not your annual assessment and certainly not you, as a person. Fortunately, there are\u00a0some things you can\u00a0do about it!<\/strong><\/p>\n Tal Ben-Shahar, author of\u00a0amongst others\u00a0The Pursuit of Perfect<\/a>, distinguishes two types of perfectionism. The first kind is healthy, the second downright harmful. Perfectionists reject reality, and hold impossible standards for themselves.\u00a0They try to meet these continuously, are blind to small triumphs and thus make success unreachable. This results in pain, suffering and mental illnesses.\u00a0Perfectionism is a major cause of stress symptoms<\/a>, and makes you unhappy. Low self-esteem, eating and panic disorders, depression, chronic fatigue, burnout and alcoholism occur\u00a0regularly\u00a0among those who strive for absolute perfection,\u00a0knows self-proclaimed ‘recovering perfectionist’ Ben-Shahar.<\/p>\n People from the healthy, realistic kind the former Positive Psychology<\/a> Professor at Harvard University calls optimalists. They accept reality and try dealing with it*, he says.<\/p>\n<\/div> Your manager doesn’t want\u00a0perfection:\u00a0‘Takes too long, too expensive.’<\/p><\/div>\n Good news: no one is 100% a perfectionist or 100% an optimalist. You’re always somewhere in between. Often times it varies from situation to situation which type you are. In certain areas and at certain times you will be more perfectionistic and at others more optimalistic.\u00a0(For example, you find that you can not just drop stitch at work, whereas you are very tolerant to yourself when you are exercising your hobby.) And…, even better:\u00a0you can train yourself to be predominantly an optimalist.<\/p>\n At work 38 percent of women set high goals and don’t feel like they are able to deliver accordingly. At home, 30 percent of women feel that they fall short. Which type best describes you? Do\u00a0you generally try to make the most of it when\u00a0something goes wrong\u00a0(optimalist) or do you oftentimes think\u00a0about\u00a0what an idiot you really are\u00a0(perfectionist)? Do you catch yourself doing the latter? Don’t scold yourself<\/a>, but give yourself\u00a0permission to be human instead:<\/p>\n<\/div> One way to do this, is\u00a0by means of guided meditation exercises, like this one by Tal Ben-Shahar.<\/p>\n![\"perfectionisme,](\"https:\/\/www.power2improve.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Perfectionisme.png\")
Train the optimalist in you<\/h2>\n
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Women suffer from\u00a0perfectionism more often than men<\/h2>\n
\nThis applies to 24 percent of men.<\/p>\n
\nOnly\u00a017 percent of men worry about this.<\/p>\nSource:\u00a0Auburn University, Alabama, USA (2009)<\/h4>\n
\u279c Tweet this<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>
From\u00a0fault finder to\u00a0benefit\u00a0finder<\/h2>\n
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