Perfectionism
The Difference Between High Standards and Perfectionism
Where does “high standards” end and perfectionism begin? When it starts to cost you. A recent New York Times piece by Karen Crouse recounts the trials of figure skater Gracie Gold, an Olympic contender who suffered mental illness, including eating disorders, in large part from the pressures of competing. Gold’s perfectionism, according to the article,…
Read MoreThe Conversation You Have With Your Work
Creative / scholarly work is actually a conversation between yourself (your ideas, emotions, perceptions) and your materials and influences. Or, as glass artist Davide Penso recently put it in an interview in Glass Art Magazine: “I didn’t and don’t presume to work in glass, but to support it and assign it the task of molding…
Read MoreAn Extreme Exercise in Nonperfectionism!
A fun exercise for overcoming perfectionism is to send emails with intentional errors and silliness in them. You’re basically practicing toleratting your errers, and having others see those errers. (It also helps with time management because once you stop trying to perfect every email you save a lot of time. And yes, of course I…
Read MoreInspiration from Michael Jordan and Garry Kasparov to Start Your Work/School Year
I hope everyone had a fantastic summer! Let’s get the work/school year going with a great quote from Michael Jordan: I quoted chess champ / democracy activist Garry Kasparov saying something similar in my book The 7 Secrets of the Prolific: “Years ago, I was fortunate to hear one of…
Read MoreLet’s Talk About “Situational Perfectionism”
“Situational perfectionism” is when something causes your perfectionism to spike above its usual levels. (Which usually, in turn, causes your procrastination to spike!) It’s a common phenomenon, with many causes. Here are a few: A prior failure. Often, when we perceived we’ve failed, we get more afraid of future failures. (The solution is to not…
Read MoreStuck? Lose Your Label!
Here’s a useful piece by Austin Kleon on How to Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Chaotic Times. I like #3 a lot: “Forget the noun, do the verb.” Calling yourself a “writer,” “artist,” “activist,” “scholar,” “entrepreneur,” or any other label can invite procrastination if you use that label perfectionistically. For example, if…
Read MoreA Self-Critical Paragon of Productivity
Last weekend, a woman with whom I was speaking on a business matter told me she was “really could use help” with her time management, citing as proof the fact that we were working over the weekend. She had forgotten, however, that the reason we were doing so wasn’t because of anything she had done,…
Read MoreThe Welcome Debunking of “Grit”
I’m happy to report that “grit,” that awful, victim-blaming concept, has largely been debunked. An Education Week piece by University of San Francisco psychology professor Christine Yeh reports that Grit author Angela Duckworth has been forced to walk back some of her book’s key claims: “Much Ado about Grit: A Meta-Analytic Synthesis of the Grit Literature” by Marcus Crede…
Read MoreWhen a Success Leaves You *Less* Able to Do Your Work
I use the term “situational perfectionism” to describe circumstances that cause your perfectionism to spike. A failure (or perceived failure) can do that, but so, paradoxically, can a success, especially if it causes you to feel more visible or scrutinized. J.K. Rowling experienced this after the exceptional success of the first Harry Potter book, but…
Read MoreMichelin Chef Says Non! to Relentless Competition
I was inspired by the news of the Michelin chef who has asked to be removed from the prestigious ratings system: “One of France’s most celebrated chefs, whose restaurant has been honoured with three stars in the Michelin guide for almost 20 years, has pleaded to be stripped of the prestigious ranking because of the…
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