Know a Perfectionist?

Of course you do.  It's more likely that you'd have a hard time naming someone who is not a perfectionist.  They're everywhere.  And like the rest of us, they got issues. Perfectionism is an emotional structure.  It places the idea of accomplishing something in front of the person's other needs.  Including emotional needs.  Therefore, seeking perfection is anti-emotional health.

A healthy antidote to perfectionism is compassion.  Compassion is feeling another person's suffering and having a desire to alleviate it.  But compassion can also be directed at oneself.  A person caught in the perfectionism structure is essentially saying to themselves, "getting this done just right is more important than any other needs I may have."  By embracing compassion, a person can instead recognize when their other needs are more important than perfecting something to the nth degree. They can say, "I've done a fine job with this.  I think it's time to be finished and go spend some time for me."  It helps us prioritize our life in a more healthy way.  

Some of you are probably saying, "but, but, perfectionism is good!  It's how I get ahead in life!  It's what makes me, me!"  To that I would say, life is not always about achieving peak emotional health any more than it is always about achieving peak physical health.  Have you never eaten a cheeseburger?  An ice cream cone?  Of course you have.  It wasn't good for your physical health, but I'm guessing you wouldn't change the behavior.  Well, it's the same for perfectionism.  There's a time and a place for everything.  If we choose to do something unhealthy for a specific reason, we do so with awareness.  And that awareness is what keeps an occasional unhealthy action from becoming a habit.  So, perfect away!  But try not to let it become a habit.