Let's talk perfectionism: General discussion
in Psychology ·
Hey everyone!
Decided to jump into this thread because I’ve been battling this whole perfectionism thing for a few months now. Honestly, before I started law school, I never really felt these symptoms when studying—I just liked keeping things tidy. But ever since I got enrolled, it feels like things have spiraled out of control.
My main issue is this obsession with everything being "perfect." Like, when I’m studying, everything has to be absolutely flawless, and I feel this intense pressure to stick to my schedule down to the exact minute. Of course, that’s impossible, so I end up falling behind, and my grades at school are definitely taking a hit because of it.
I actually found some links to counseling services on the university website, and after reading up on perfectionism there, it was a huge wake-up call. Everything they described? Yeah, that was me.
So, a couple of months later, I’m still fighting it, but I think I’m finally starting to get the upper hand. I’ve been following some new principles I picked up from reading about it, and I just try to remind myself:
Perfection is just an illusion. Excellence is a different beast entirely, and that's what you should actually aim for. If I set a goal that's totally unrealistic, I dial it back a notch and focus on that instead. Lately, I've been trying to find more joy in the work itself—focusing on the process rather than obsessing over the final result. And when those old anxieties pop up, I just view them as little warning signs telling me I've set the bar too high.
I'm trying to live by these rules every single day. It's how I'm pushing back against the perfectionism, and hopefully, in time, I'll beat it for good.
Decided to jump into this thread because I’ve been battling this whole perfectionism thing for a few months now. Honestly, before I started law school, I never really felt these symptoms when studying—I just liked keeping things tidy. But ever since I got enrolled, it feels like things have spiraled out of control.
My main issue is this obsession with everything being "perfect." Like, when I’m studying, everything has to be absolutely flawless, and I feel this intense pressure to stick to my schedule down to the exact minute. Of course, that’s impossible, so I end up falling behind, and my grades at school are definitely taking a hit because of it.
I actually found some links to counseling services on the university website, and after reading up on perfectionism there, it was a huge wake-up call. Everything they described? Yeah, that was me.
So, a couple of months later, I’m still fighting it, but I think I’m finally starting to get the upper hand. I’ve been following some new principles I picked up from reading about it, and I just try to remind myself:
Perfection is just an illusion. Excellence is a different beast entirely, and that's what you should actually aim for. If I set a goal that's totally unrealistic, I dial it back a notch and focus on that instead. Lately, I've been trying to find more joy in the work itself—focusing on the process rather than obsessing over the final result. And when those old anxieties pop up, I just view them as little warning signs telling me I've set the bar too high.
I'm trying to live by these rules every single day. It's how I'm pushing back against the perfectionism, and hopefully, in time, I'll beat it for good.