Written by a perfectionist
Take a moment to reflect on your college experience and student academic experience over your time at USC:
Have you ever found yourself awake at 2 AM, hunched over your laptop, obsessively tweaking your essay for the tenth time? Or maybe you've spent countless hours formatting a presentation, agonizing over the perfect font and color scheme. Perhaps you're the person who proofreads every email ten times before hitting send, paralyzed by the fear of making even the tiniest mistake. (Personal anecdotes)
As a recovering perfectionist myself, I know these experiences all too well. If any of the above sounds like you, you may be one of millions of college students, like myself, around the world grappling with perfectionistic tendencies.
This article delves into the complexities of perfectionism, exploring its causes, manifestations, and the hidden costs it exacts on students. We will also cover strategies to overcome the chains of perfectionism.
The Perfectionist Epidemic:
Perfectionism is often glorified in our society as a symbol of success. However, in reality, it can have a darker impact, acting as a form of psychological tyranny, draining the individual's life of joy and spontaneity.
This toxic mindset is especially prevalent at competitive universities like USC, where the constant pressure to secure internships and jobs after graduation fuels unhealthy perfectionist tendencies. As students tirelessly strive for academic excellence, this harmful way of thinking can have a significant and negative impact on mental health, productivity, and overall well-being (Hill).
By understanding the detrimental effects of this mindset, we can pave the way for a healthier and more sustainable approach to success, one that embraces the power of imperfection.
What is perfectionism:
Perfectionism is a relentless pursuit of unattainably high standards, further exasperated by overly critical self-evaluations and a strong aversion to making mistakes (American Psychology Association).
It is the conviction that we must be perfect in every aspect of our lives - from our grades and career achievements to our relationships and personal appearance - in order to be worthy of love, respect, and success.
Types of Perfectionism:
Perfectionism comes in three forms (Hewitt and Flett):
Self-oriented: setting unrealistic standards for oneself
Other-oriented: expecting others to be perfect
Socially-prescribed: believing others expect perfection from you
So, why do we so desperately crave perfection?
For some, it's about trying to control life's chaos, setting strict rules and high standards for ourselves, thinking this will create a sense of order and stability in an unpredictable world.
Others pursue perfection because they're deeply afraid of failure, believing that any mistake or setback is a reflection of their own inadequacy, so they strive for flawlessness to prove their worth.
But perfectionism isn't always an internal pressure. Perfectionism can also be learned from the external expectations of our families, schools, and society, where success is often prized above all else. This can lead to the belief that our worth depends on being the very best.
Signs of perfectionism:
Perfectionism can manifest in various forms, infiltrating both academic and personal life. You may have found yourself exhibiting perfectionistic tendencies in the following ways:
Procrastination:
Perfectionists may spend excessive time planning and preparing, using this as a form of procrastination to delay actually starting the task (Sirois et al.). This might look like spending hours creating multiple versions of the outline for your speech rather than actually writing the content and practicing.
Obsessive attention to detail:
Perfectionists are detail-oriented, which means they pay attention to every little detail of a project. However, this can be a dangerous and slippery slope. While attention to detail is important, obsession with detail is self-defeating.
This could manifest as spending hours meticulously formatting a presentation, agonizing over font choices and color schemes, even when the content is already well-developed.
Overcompensating in group projects:
Perfectionists may be reluctant to let go of control and may feel that they need to do everything themselves, struggle to delegate tasks and have difficulty collaborating (Lee et al.).
This can look like rewriting your teammates' sections of a group presentation because they don't meet your exacting expectations, leading to increased tension and resentment from your peers.
Harsh self-criticism and setting impossibly high standards
You excessively focus on flaws and mistakes, blaming yourself or feeling embarrassed for failing or performing poorly.
You may find yourself using words like "should," "must," or "have to," creating a rigid and unforgiving set of expectations for yourself.
The Hidden Costs of Perfectionism:
"The enemy of the good is the perfect,"
There are several consequences associated with perfectionism:
Short-term consequences:
Decreased productivity
Studies have shown that perfectionism can be a hindrance to productivity, as students who focus too much on making things perfect waste time and miss deadlines (Stoeber et al.) Are the extra hours spent on color coding your study notes really going to help?
Law of diminishing returns:
Have you ever felt like a project wasn't finished because you just had "one more little thing" to do to it? Perfectionists frequently find themselves trapped in a cycle of constant tweaking and finding areas to improve or “make better,” with every additional effort adding less and less value.
This cycle exemplifies the law of diminishing returns: beyond a certain point, the time and energy invested in perfecting a task yield increasingly minor improvements.
Paralysis and inaction
"The artist who aims at perfection in everything achieves it in nothing." - Eugene Delacroix.
Just as an artist obsessed with perfecting every detail may never finish a piece, The fear of producing anything less than a masterpiece prevents them from making any progress at all.
Hidden Price Tags:
Delaying important decisions: Perfectionists often struggle with decision-making, like delaying planning a trip due to the desire to create the perfect itinerary, only to find that flight prices have quadrupled.
Missed opportunities: Perfectionism can result in missed deadlines for job applications, programs, clubs, or scholarships because of prioritizing perfection over other important priorities.
Sacrificing social connections: In pursuit of perfection, you may decline invitations to social events, leading to feelings of isolation and missing out on core memories of being young in college.
Stifled creativity and innovation: When individuals become so focused on avoiding mistakes, they may limit their potential for growth and discovery by not taking risks or exploring new ideas.
The long-term effects of perfectionism can be even more damaging.
This relentless pursuit can lead to burnout, causing students to lose motivation and potentially impacting their long-term success, causing chronic stress, which leads to health problems and even a higher risk of mental health issues such as higher risk of depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues among college students (Hill).
So what can we do?
How to Practice Imperfection
Practical Tips:
Set Realistic Goals: Aim for achievable challenges instead of unattainable ideals.
Break Tasks Down: Divide large projects into smaller, manageable steps to avoid feeling overwhelmed.
Delegate: Share tasks with others to lighten your workload and build collaboration skills.
Focus on Progress: Celebrate small victories and learn from mistakes instead of fixating on the end result.
Practice Self-Compassion: Treat yourself with kindness and understanding.
My Personal Methods:
Give yourself 30-60 minutes:
Set a timer for 30 minutes and work on completing an assignment within that time frame. Imagine it's a life or death scenario where you must finish when the timer goes off, and if you don't, you have to pay your friend $100. Once the timer is up, evaluate your progress and decide whether an additional 10 minutes will allow you to finish the work
Accept what is 'Good Enough' and Just submit
embracing the philosophy of "good enough" can be life-changing. Instead of striving for unattainable ideals, Force yourself to submit assignments as soon as they meet all the requirements and criteria in the rubric to score a good grade. If your essay has at least five reputable citations, meets the word count and rubric criteria, and passes a grammar check, you can go ahead and clock out.
Prioritizing Well-Being:
Recognize that striving for perfection can often come at the expense of physical and mental health, so choose to create a balanced and sustainable lifestyle. Losing sleep is associated with severe health problems, and I use that fact to scare myself to sleep.
Embrace Imperfections
Beauty often lies in imperfections
Take, for example, the Japanese art of kintsugi, which involves repairing broken pottery with gold and making its flaws a feature rather than trying to hide them.
Conclusion
In reality, perfectionism is a double-edged sword that can hinder our personal growth, relationships, and overall well-being. By recognizing the signs and understanding the root causes of our perfectionistic tendencies, we can begin to break free from the chains of this toxic mindset.
As I continue on my journey of embracing imperfection, I invite you to join me. Challenge yourself to submit an assignment that meets the requirements but may not be "perfect" in your eyes. Say yes to a social invitation, even if it means stepping outside your comfort zone. Embrace the beauty and freedom that comes with letting go of perfectionism.
American Psychological Association. (n.d.). APA dictionary of psychology. Retrieved from https://dictionary.apa.org/perfectionism
Hewitt, P. L., & Flett, G. L. (1991). Perfectionism in the self and social contexts: Conceptualization, assessment, and association with psychopathology. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60(3), 456–470. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.60.3.456
Hill, A. P., & Curran, T. (2016). Multidimensional perfectionism and burnout: A meta-analysis. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 20(3), 269–288. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868315596286
Lee, J., Ahn, S., Henning, M. A., van de Ridder, J. M. M., & Rajput, V. (2023). Micromanagement in clinical supervision: A scoping review. BMC Medical Education, 23(1), 563. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-023-04543-3. PMID: 37559079; PMCID: PMC10410949.
Sirois, F. M., Molnar, D. S., & Hirsch, J. K. (2017). A meta-analytic and conceptual update on the associations between procrastination and multidimensional perfectionism. European Journal of Personality, 31(2), 137–159. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.2098
Stoeber, J., & Damian, L. E. (2016). Perfectionism in employees: Work engagement, workaholism, and burnout. In F. M. Sirois & D. S. Molnar (Eds.), Perfectionism, health, and well-being (pp. 265–283). Springer.
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. (n.d.). What are sleep deprivation and deficiency? U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Retrieved from https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/sleep-deprivation
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