E364 | In Case You Missed It E259: Understanding and Overcoming Perfectionism

2025-02-10

DONE. You’ve finally finished the big project you’ve been agonizing over. But as you prepare to hit send, print, submit - whatever - all you feel is doubt. Despite the preparation and time you’ve put in, you can’t help but think about all the ways this “finished product” isn’t good enough. This is just one example of how perfectionism can manifest in our day-to-day lives; how it can hold us back, make us feel anxious - even depressed - and how it can keep us from making the type of progress we so desperately seek within our personal and professional lives. Today we’re going to explore the topic of perfectionism in depth. Tune in as we dive into:...

DONE. You’ve finally finished the big project you’ve been agonizing over.

But as you prepare to hit send, print, submit - whatever - all you feel is doubt. Despite the preparation and time you’ve put in, you can’t help but think about all the ways this “finished product” isn’t good enough.

This is just one example of how perfectionism can manifest in our day-to-day lives; how it can hold us back, make us feel anxious - even depressed - and how it can keep us from making the type of progress we so desperately seek within our personal and professional lives.

Today we’re going to explore the topic of perfectionism in depth.

Tune in as we dive into:

The various definitions and “symptoms” (8:40)
It’s origins, including the 5 Factor Model of Personality (23:15)
The difference between perfectionism and healthy striving (29:30)
Non-traditional strategies for overcoming it (44:00)

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If you’d like go go deeper on this and other related topics - here are some great previous episodes that pair nicely with this one: