Are you exhibiting perfectionist behaviour? Do you have the characteristics of perfectionism? How do you know if you are a perfectionist? What does it mean to be a perfectionist? We are going to explore these questions in this video...
All videos in the How to Overcome Perfectionism series:
- The Truth about Perfectionism vs High Standards
- Why Perfectionism is NOT as Good as You Think
- Are You a Perfectionist? How to Know (that's this one!)
- How to Overcome Perfectionism: Your 5-Step Guide
3 characteristics of perfectionism and perfectionist behaviour:
Sign #1 that you are a perfectionist: Very focused on the details, often at the expense of bigger picture vision.
You are so focused on perfecting the tiny details that you really neglect the bigger picture. You are focused on what is directly in front of you and you aren't looking ahead. You're not paying attention to other things that you probably should be aware of. You have blinders on, so you can't even see other things around you other than this very specific thing that you are focusing on and trying to perfect.
Perfectionism is not the same as being detail oriented. Rather, this is more about nitpicking the details — and it's not for the sake of improvement! It's usually due to fears or issues around visibility or vulnerability.
Being detail oriented is great. It's important to review your work and put your best foot forward and proofread your work. Perfectionism that is focused on the tiny details for reasons of fear is much different than that.
Sign #2 that you are a perfectionist: You have an unwillingness to define what is good enough and to share it with the world.
At that point, you likely engage in black and white thinking and you probably have a tough time creating that “good enough” threshold for yourself. Again, this is an unwillingness — it is NOT an inability.
It often takes on the appearance of complete inability, but that's only because the root causes of your perfectionism are not being addressed.
Revealing those root causes and overcoming them is something that you can learn how to do in my Activate Your Intuition masterclass: It is specifically designed to help you build a better relationship with yourself and understand yourself at a deeper level than ever before.
Watch it on demand for $0 now:
And yes, it is a masterclass — it is not a webinar!
You will get a variety of action steps plus high level concepts that might just change your life. Trust me, you do not want to miss it.
Creating a “good enough” threshold for yourself allows you to do an awesome job without holding yourself back from making progress. It is very important if you ever want to move forward.
And oftentimes if you struggle to define what is “good enough,” you might also struggle to define what the “perfect” version of your work looks like — because it's ethereal. It doesn't really exist, and you probably don't WANT it to exist. It's safer for you if your idea of perfection remains a fantasy, because then you won't let yourself or other people down.
Sign #3 that you are a perfectionist: having unrealistic, unreasonable and often unattainable expectations of yourself.
The unattainability is a really sneaky aspect of perfectionism. A common perfectionist characteristic is that you THINK you are making something better, but you have set standards or expectations that may not even be humanly possible.
That sets you up for an excellent protection mechanism, especially if you have a fear of success, because you are essentially setting yourself up for failure. It keeps you very safe.
These are not the only characteristics of perfectionism and perfectionist behaviour. You also might not resonate with all of these signs that you are a perfectionist. These are just three examples of being a perfectionist.
How to know if you are a perfectionist and what it means to be a perfectionist…
At the end of the day, being a perfectionist is more likely to lead you to failure than it is to success. You are going to hold yourself back from taking action. You are going to create milestones for success that are not realistic or attainable — and as a result, you are not going to achieve your goals.
Perfectionism is the illusion of being a high achiever. Perfectionism is the illusion of high standards. Perfectionism is the illusion of productivity. Perfectionism is an illusion of success, when in reality, it is holding you back from your own success.
Are you a perfectionist? Now that you know the signs of perfectionism, the characteristics of perfectionism and perfectionist behaviour, it is time to do something about it, so that you can become someone with high standards, who also achieves your goals and experiences success!
How do you stop being a perfectionist and start living up to your full potential? That is the question we're going to address in our next video in this How to Overcome Perfectionism series…