Perfectionism & Overachieving

Perfectionism makes prioritization and time management difficult because everything is perceived as equally important. Constant comparisons to others, negative predictions, all or nothing thinking, and motivating yourself by “should” statements are common thought problems in the vicious cycle of perfectionism and overachieving. This pressure increases anxiety, and tends to be resolved only by over-preparing, excessive planning, and redoing work. Sometimes these behaviors can lead to missed deadlines or procrastination due to the overwhelming expectations. Efforts are focused on avoiding mistakes, being “the best”, or simply as a strategy to quiet negative self-talk. As soon as one goal is accomplished or achieved, the next one is set, a process I call “goal cycling”.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting that we underperform or put bare minimum effort into important things. But when it ALL seems equally important, it’s easy to burn out, feel trapped or defeated, and to end up “underperforming” due to the lack of awareness of diminishing returns. We only have so much time in a day, and if we go “all in” with one thing, there are other things that are pushed aside. Often, due to goal cycling or the excessive amount of time it may take to perfect a task, these pushed aside areas of life may become neglected for too long.

I am a recovering perfectionist myself, so I know all too well the pitfalls of overachieving and how scary it is to make changes. I love helping people overcome this, only to realize the changes weren’t as scary as they imagined.