It’s become cool to call yourself a perfectionist. Everyone does it, but how many people are actually stuck in the all-or-nothing mindset of perfectionism? It’s not fun! What no one tells you about perfectionism is that it can hold you back in life and cause you stress that weighs you down. Perfectionism is something to overcome if you want to be healthy, so here are some no-nonsense tips to help you do that.
1. Notice Your Thought Processes.
Become aware of your perfection obsession. When you’re about to start a new task, what thoughts run through your mind? Do you have lots of critical self-talk and paralyzing self-doubt? By noticing your thoughts and feelings, you’ll be able to change your destructive patterns.
2. Look Forward To Making Mistakes.
Making mistakes is a perfectionist’s worst-case scenario. They want everything to be perfect and reach success without any challenges. Um, that’s pretty unrealistic. Instead of fearing making mistakes, challenge those thoughts by saying, “I want to make mistakes!” Flipping the script turns fear into curiosity. Besides, when you make mistakes, that’s when you learn important things.
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4. Hit The De-Stress Button.
If you’re always striving for perfection, you’re probably pretty tightly wound RN. Maybe you’re snappy at others or you stay up at night worrying about achieving your goals. Too much stress is going to pull you out of the game, so find healthy stress outlets to distract you from the negative self-talk and keep you positive.
5. Find Meaning In What You Do.
While you might be focusing so much on what you have to achieve, it’s healthier to pay more attention to your purpose. What are you doing in your life that gives it meaning? When you strive to succeed from this perspective, you’ll bring your attention back to your purpose and away from the stress about reaching perfection.
6. Have Fun Instead Of Achieving Something.
Sometimes, you’ve just got to stop working so hard and have some fun. It can be difficult to get into this mindset, but it’s part of a healthy work-life balance and will help you overcome perfectionism. Do something for fun without it being a challenge or a competition. This will help you recharge your batteries and feel restored before jumping back into your to-do list. Plus, time away from your goals will help you find creative solutions to them.
7. Don’t Overthink, Just Go!
It’s weird, but sometimes perfectionism can cause you to procrastinate. You become paralyzed by a fear of failure, so you don’t want to even start a new task or jump out of your comfort zone. While you want to plan ahead for an upcoming exam or interview, sometimes you’ve got to realize you’ve done your best and stop overthinking everything, as it can keep you stuck.
8. Force Yourself To Reach Out.
It’s not always easy to ask for help, especially if you’re a perfectionist who wants to do everything for yourself. But you can’t completely depend on yourself. And, delegating tasks to others can help you to lower your stress levels, which helps you tons. Try reaching out to someone in your trusted circle for something small, just to break the ice. See? It’s not so bad!
9. Cut Out The “Shoulds.”
You might obsess about your mistakes and failures, even though they help you to grow and boost your creativity. Doing this can cause you regret over the past, like you might tell yourself, “I should have…” a lot. But this doesn’t help anyone! It only causes you more stress moving forward, which you legit don’t need right now. Instead, focus on positive things about your past and how it brought you to the present.
10. Stop Being A People-Pleaser.
As a perfectionist, you might want to make everyone else happy. You want to be seen by others as perfect, but it’s exhausting. Trying to be what everyone else needs and wants is unrealistic. You’re just hurting yourself and causing yourself so much stress over other people’s opinions. It’s not worth it.
11. Flaunt Your Flaws.
It’s not always easy to feel good about what you consider your flaws, but there’s power in them. They make you unique and special, while also teaching you confidence. By focusing on how you can work around them or deal with them, you boost your resilience. So, don’t try to erase them to be “perfect.” That’s boring.
12. Say “No” To Your Workload.
If you’ve always got tons of things to do and you’re busy, you’re stretching yourself too thin and risking burnout. Here’s something to try: say “no” to something or try to get out of a favor, even if it makes you cringe or you feel so bad. Get used to setting healthy boundaries for yourself. It’s perfectly fine to say “no” to taking on an extra side hustle RN because you need to look after yourself. Your health has to come first!
