Are you a high-functioning perfectionist? Being highly successful and very good at what you do is something to be proud of. But the unfortunate reality of being high-functioning doesn’t always make it easy to recognize your imperfections or realize when they’re negatively affecting your life. High-functioning perfectionism can lead to feelings of inadequacy, anxiety, exhaustion, hopelessness, and loneliness – and it can feel like nobody truly understands what you’re going through…until now. Here are some signs that might indicate that your high-functioning perfectionism has taken over your life.
What is high-functioning perfectionism?
Some people have trouble identifying or describing it, but most of us know a perfectionist when we see one: They’re those colleagues who are always striving for excellence. The ones who double-check their work and worry about making mistakes. The overachievers who seem to take everything in stride until something goes wrong, and then they fall apart. In some ways, high-functioning perfectionists can be even more difficult to deal with — because they hide their self-doubt so well. High functioning perfectionists often over-prepare, over-do, and leave themselves no time to recover mentally and physically from the demands of the standards they hold.
How can we cope with it?
Learning to deal with perfectionism is a process of teaching one’s self that ‘just enough’ is good enough. That one’s best effort cannot be given to every single activity engaged in or you will begin to struggle to do your best when it really counts the most. It’s making choices about what deserves our effort, time, and energy – and that can be a hard process to begin. Let us know if you need help with perfectionism, our efforts can help you learn to align your behavior and time use with your values.
