8 Proven Tips on How to Overcome Perfectionism (Complete Guide)

Although I am a personal development blogger by profession, I am in no way a mental health professional. See my disclaimer for more info.

Perfectionism is a common thing that we experience. But, it can negtaitvely affect your life — so, here’s my complete guide on how to overcome perfectionism.

My fellow Type-A’s! If you’re a workaholic and always strive to go above and beyond like myself, I’m sure you know of this thing called perfectionism.

It affects us in many ways; frankly in not-so-positive ways most of the time. Even as I write this introduction, I have to pause every few seconds because I’m caught up trying to perfect it. As much as perfectionism can help you, it can also be a huge detriment to your productivity and mental health.

That said, let’s challenge ourselves to defeat perfectionism. In this post, I’m giving you a complete guide to overcoming perfectionism and adopting positive, healthy habits to replace the negative ones.

Are you ready? Let’s get into it!

THIS POST IS ALL ABOUT HOW TO OVERCOME PERFECTIONISM.

What is perfectionism?

Perfectionism is when you’re not happy with something unless it meets extremely high standards.

If you’re a perfectionist, you might not even publish your work because you feel like it’s not good enough. You spend all this time over-analyzing the smallest of every detail, trying to make sure everything looks right.

When you hear “procrastination,” you might immediately think of work life. While that’s the area where most people tend to have this kind of mindset, you can also feel this way toward your:

• Academics
• Relationships
• Finances

This is an unhealthy mentality. You’re constantly battling yourself in every way to be better than others and yourself.

In reality, your work most likely looks amazing. The problem is that it doesn’t meet your crazy-high standards.

Causes of Perfectionism:

Alright, now you know what it means to be a perfectionist. But what does this mentality stem from?

Here are a few reasons that you may have a perfectionist mindset:

• In the past, people have majorly critiqued your work
• You’re a workaholic and have a hard time balancing work and personal life
• This mindset is glorified on social media and in the workplace
• You feel validated when others praise your work (ethic)
• You feel like you have to prove others or yourself wrong
• You deal with a mental health disorder like OCD
• You don’t feel appreciated or welcomed in your environment (personally/professionally)
• You feel like an imposter in your field of work and you’re trying to compete with your peers
• You feel like you have to live up to high expectations that others set for you

Signs of Perfectionism:

Here are some signs that you have a perfectionist mindset:

1. You set high standards for yourself
2. You feel like you have to do things on your own and rarely ask for help
3. You’re afraid to ask for feedback on your work
   1. Or, you constantly ask people for feedback because you’re afraid your that work isn’t good enough
4. You’d rather not start on something at all because you’re too focused on trying to perfect it
5. You over-analyze every detail before you submit something
6. You beat yourself up more than usual when someone negatively critiques your work
7. You don’t believe in your abilities, skills, and talents
8. You always compare your work to your peers’ work

Why is perfectionism harmful?

You might think that aiming for perfection is good, but it’s not. If anything, it can lead to burnout and high levels of stress and frustration. This can go on to affect other important areas of your life, like your relationships and financial health.

Here’s why perfectionism is harmful:

• It can affect your mental health
• It can prevent you from getting things done (or even starting in the first place)
• It can limit your success and block huge opportunities
• It gives you a close-minded perspective on things

Remember, perfection isn’t real. The phrase, “practice makes perfect” is just a cliché saying. All the time we throw it around without realizing the context behind it.

Really? Practice makes perfect? Who or what in this world is perfect?

Let me know when you have an answer because I sure don’t.

Instead we should say, “practice equals consistency.”

I heard someone say this on TikTok and it stuck with me. Why? Because it’s true! When you make an effort to practice on a regular basis, that creates a consistent schedule. That’s how you’ll get better at your craft.

That’s the main reason for perfectionism anyway. It’s the never-ending desire for improvement. But you have to remember to take baby steps.

Yes, you should keep your eyes on the prize. That’s what will keep you motivated during journey. Especially at the lowest of your low points.

But remember that you have to live in the moment. When you’re constantly focusing on getting better, it’s hard to acknowledge and appreciate the progress you’ve already made.

Alright, I think that’s enough context. Now I’m going to share some of my personal advice on how to overcome perfectionism.

I still have some work to do, but I’m making some good progress in my journey!

How to Overcome Perfectionism:

1. Ask for feedback & reach out for help

I find that when I’m in that perfectionist mode, it’s usually because I refuse to ask to help (until I absolutely have to). And the thing is, it’s great to be independent. If anything, you should strive to be able to do things on your own and not ask for help too often.

But, at the same time, you don’t want to take it to the level where you’re self-torturing. It’s almost like you’re doing the opposite of what you should be. And boom: you’re right back at square one.

So, I want you to realize that asking for feedback and reaching out for help it totally okay. In fact, I encourage it! It’ll help you be much more efficient and allow you to be more proud of yourself and your accomplishments.

Oh, and when you get that feedback that you ask for, see it in a positive light. Don’t think that they’re trying to harshly judge. If you see it this way, you probably won’t end up listening to their advice.

THINK: Do you like asking for and receiving feedback? Tell me in the comments!

2. Just do it!

Procrastination is perfectionism’s little cousin. They decide to team up every now and then. Together, they make a FATAL duo that’s hard to escape.

If you get in your head and try to plan everything to a “T,” chances are you’ll probably never start. Then what? Instead of trying to perfect everything, just get started.

Start that project, that business, or that new self-care routine. If you’re concerned that you’ll be a rookie, don’t worry. We have this gift called improving over time.

It’s not very realistic to expect to be amazing when you try something new anyway, so let’s get rid of that mindset.

RELATED POST — How to Stop Procrastinating: 15 Must-Know Tips to Get Things Done

3. Calm down 

Listen, I don’t want you driving yourself crazy by worrying about the small things. Things that frankly don’t even matter all that much!

I know I get overwhelmed when I’m trying something new. For example, I recently started working at Culver’s. You’d think, with it being a fast food restaurant, it’d be pretty easy to adapt to. 

And while that’s true, I was seriously overwhelmed during my first few weeks. I looked at my coworkers doing their jobs and wanted to quickly learn and adapt.

But I realized that it wasn’t realistic to expect to learn everything in just a week or 2. So, I let go, calmed down, and took it slow and easy. And now I know how to do everything in my area — would you look at that!

4. Don’t compare yourself to others

I’m going to be brutually honest here:

I compare myself to my fellow self-improvement bloggers fairly often. I compare the posts I write, the way I write my posts, the way my website looks, my email campaigns, my Pinterest marketing strategy, and so much more.

I’ll do something my way and then see a peer do it a different way. Then, I think to myself, “Dang, am I doing this wrong? Should I do it the way they do it?”

But do you know what this does to my mental health, productivity, and creativity? It absolutely diminishes everything.

For example, I’ll be scrolling on my business Pinterest account looking for some inspiration for different Pin designs. I’ll stop and click on one I like and I’ll spend the next 10 minutes trying to recreate it.

It’s all starting to get old, so I’m trying to compare myself and my work less and less often.

5. Set realistic standards

One of the biggest causes/signs of perfectionism is setting unrealistic standards. I get it — you want things done a certain way and within a certain timeframe.

I’m going to need you to step back though. What good are these expectations if you can’t meet them? Or worse yet, beating yourself up trying to reach them?

If you really want to be productive and get things done, you need to be a bit more realistic with the standards you set.

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6. Learn that perfectionism isn’t real

The sooner you change your perspective about being a perfectionist, the sooner you’ll find peace.

You see, perfectionism is kind of funny. You spend all this time and energy chasing the unknown. Read that sentence again: do you know how amusing and impossible that sounds?

How the heck are you going to chase the unexpected? Perfectionism isn’t real and, friend, I’m really going to need you to understand that.

7. Don’t care so much about others’ opinions 

Say it with me: the only opinion that matters is yours. Shut out all of the other opinions that don’t matter.

Why? Because if you don’t, you’ll likely take them too serious and base your decisions and actions on them. And then that could lead to you trying to, once again, meet unrealistic standards.

8. Appreciate the progress you’ve made 

Instead of focusing so much on perfecting things, what if you considered just sitting back and living in the moment? I’m all about continuing to move in the right direction and working in the moment. 

But when you finally reach that success, it probably won’t feel so good if you neglected to live in the moment? You know what they say: “It’s not about the destination; it’s about the journey.”

And I totally agree. As amazing as the destination will be, I’m enjoying every moment — big and small — throughout this journey of blogging. I’m enjoying it more than ever, actually!

When that success does come, I’ll appreciate even more because I remembered live in the moment.

Let’s recap!

We made it to the end of the post!

Today, we talked about how to overcome perfectionism.

It can somewhat help you, but also harm you most of the time. I hope this post helped you to overcome and change your mindset about being a perfectionist.

Please remember to take time to take care of yourself!

I know, in this economy, it can be hard to find free things to do that are fun. That’s why I put together a list of 7 free self care activities to enjoy today!

In the midst of chaos, don’t forget to smile, 

DeMarcus – your self care buddy

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This post was all about HOW TO OVERCOME PERFECTIONISM.