Tips For Dealing With Perfectionism

  1. Establish priorities. Making a list, helps to see what needs to be done first.

  2. Set realistic expectations. Once again, making a list may help to see there are not enough hours in the day to get everything done that you would like to accomplish.

  3. Realize you can't be perfect all of the time. We all make mistakes. Need I say more?

  4. Recognize that no one expects you to be perfect all of the time. We all make mistakes. Need I say more?

  5. Realize you can make "mistakes". Allow them and forgive yourself. We all make mistakes. Need I say more?

  6. Schedule time to correct "mistakes" before deadlines. What can be done, can be un-done or re-done, given enough time.

  7. See "mistakes" as learning experiences. Remember how much fun it was as a kid learning something? When things didn't go as expected, we weren't terrified we had done something "wrong". We learned to feel that way with time.

  8. Value quality of work on time vs. perfect work late. Sometimes our mediocre work is really much better than we think it is, only because we know what we can do, given the extra time. Stick to your time limits and look at what you did do as good and don't get caught up thinking about what you could have done.

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