Study Arata! If you are a perfectionist then you have a problem. The problem is obvious: perfection doesn’t exist it’s an ideal. You can use the ideal of perfection in a productive way, by steering your actions towards perfection. However, you can also be hindered by it. When you compare your results with unobtainable perfection you stall and become anxious, depressed or begin to procrastinate and this isn’t productive at all.
Today we will talk about how we can overcome this.
1. Build up your confidence
What’s required to deal with being too much of a perfectionist? The first step is to work on your personal levels of self-assurance and confidence. In particular, you need to invest in your confidence and in your ability to reach your desired goals. This is the foundation of what will allow you to confront challenges that you face in your studies.
Imagine that you are faced with a challenge: you want to learn to speak Greek for example. If you have low confidence, you will immediately think that this is too much for you and that you lack the necessary ability. You are going to avoid books, teachers, classes, videos or anything that could teach you to speak Greek. You will see its alphabet and say straight away how strange the words are and that it would be impossible for you to learn. Your focus will direct towards imagining your frustration. You will think about the desperation that you would go through for months trying to learn something so difficult. You could even begin to think that you are dumb or incapable.
On the other hand, after going through a process of personal development and building your confidence you would do things very differently. You would look at learning Greek in a different way. You will see Greek as a challenge. You will acquire the skills necessary to command the language. You will have the curiosity to discover what resources you need to get better and better. Also, the moment you are frustrated, you will be able to overcome those feelings quickly. In other words, your enthusiasm will be much more powerful than before.
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2. Strive for perfection but accept imperfection
Because you can never actually achieve perfection you’re just going to end up feeling stuck. You feel frustrated with yourself. You delay your projects because you are not satisfied with the current quality of what you are able to deliver now.
Have you ever heard the phrase “getting things done is better than perfection”? How can we interpret this? It means that when we only look for perfection we end up empty handed. You can keep striving for perfection whilst at the same time valuing the ability to get things done, to hand in an initial draft. Strive for perfection but make sure you are always able to accept the imperfections of your final product. These practices will push you towards perfection however much this may be an unreachable ideal.
3. Stop procrastinating
Procrastination is just rubbish. It’s when you decide to delay something or leave it for later. Instead of going to do an exam, you think that you still aren’t ready so you wait to next time to take it. Why? Simply because you struggle to accept imperfection. Thanks to your lack of confidence, you are scared of facing a worse result than you had hoped for and feelings of frustration. You want to avoid being let down or feeling sad. This whole frustrating situation could even undermine how you feel about yourself.
In order to stop procrastinating you need to accept that anything you do is going to be a long way from perfection. The point in taking that exam isn’t necessarily to achieve a perfect score. That exam is an opportunity for you to get better at exam technique. You will discover what topics you need to improve upon. You’ll see your results and work out what you’re going to focus on in the upcoming months.
Also watch out that you don’t depend too much on what others think of you. Maybe part of your anxiety about taking the test is about having to deal with what those around you think. These people will ask what grade you got. If how you value who you are depends on the opinion of others, you are going to let this be a focus of what you do. How you see yourself should come from within and for this reason you need to dedicate time to building your confidence. Establish how you see yourself in the world. This is very important.
Perfection is an unobtainable goal. However, this doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t strive for it. This search for perfection will mean that you grow. This path of self development is one that I strongly recommend that you learn. You can do this by watching our video here