What is Perfectionism?
“…a person's concern with striving for flawlessness and perfection and is accompanied by critical self-evaluations and concerns regarding others' evaluations.”
Perfectionistic people tend to set high standards and unrealistic goals, and measure their worthiness through productivity and accomplishment. However, because of these high expectations and the difficulty in meeting these standards, perfectionists often do not enjoy their achievements. This is largely owing to the tendency of perfectionists to be highly critical of their work, to fixate on mistakes, and never feel like things are ready to share, fully finished, or “good enough”.
While not a medical diagnosis itself, perfectionism and perfectionistic behaviours if left to fester can lead to anxiety, self-esteem issues, and depression.
There is a relationship between perfectionism and “imposter syndrome”, and both play major roles in the Perfectionism-Imposter Loop.
See all articles about perfectionism.
