There’s a chance your perfectionism is a misdirected personal strength. Redirect your underlying motivation and unlock your potential.

Perfectionism can be a very dynamic concept and being classified as a perfectionist clearly does not determine your achievements or experience positively or negatively.

🔍 Which type of perfectionist?

A branch of research focuses on three motivational pathways observable in perfectionistic people labeled:

🔘 self-oriented perfectionism - self-generated pressure to achieve high standards

🔘 other-oriented perfectionism - desire to press others to achieve high standards

🔘 socially prescribed perfectionism - feeling pressure for success through perceived social standards

The strength discussed here can mainly be linked to self-oriented perfectionism.

🔏 Constructive vs Destructive perfectionism

A branch of research differentiates perfectionism as:

🔹 perfectionistic strivings (e.g. being able to set and strive for high standards)

🔻 perfectionistic concerns (e.g. self-criticism or concerns over making mistakes)

Perfectionistic concerns have been used to describe counterproductive patterns associated with perfectionism, while perfectionistic strivings may form part of a healthy striving for excellence1.

A different branch of research differentiates perfectionism as healthy and unhealthy perfectionism2:

🔹 healthy perfectionism - low in perfectionistic concern, high in perfectionistic strivings

🔻 un-healthy perfectionism- high in perfectionistic concerns, low in perfectionistic strivings

Healthy perfectionists generally had high scores in perfectionistic strivings (i.e., personal standards, order, and organization) and low scores on perfectionistic concerns (i.e., concern over mistakes, doubts about social criticism/expectations, doubt about discrepancy between actual achievements)3.

“Perfectionistic strivings in themselves are not only normal, but maybe positive-if only perfectionists could focus on doing their best rather than worrying about mistakes, enjoy striving for perfection rather than being afraid of failing short of it, and concentrate on what has been achieved rather than pondering the discrepancy between what has been achieved and what might have been achieved if everything had worked out perfectly. In this form, perfectionism would be a perfectly positive disposition.” 4

🌫️ Personal Strength Behind Perfectionism

The same roots that cause counterproductive perfectionistic behavior can also be the roots of constructive perfectionistic behavior.

Although perfectionism is also linked to counterproductive behavior, the underlying motivational roots can be redirected and reveal positive characteristics.

🎟 Taking Responsibility for own influence

Having a high locus of control (believing that one has influence over outcomes) has often been categorized as a positive characteristic.

A higher internal locus of control (the extent to which they believe they have influence over a situation) is more likely in people with perfectionism 5. This suggests that a high locus of control is linked to the root of perfectionism.

Perfectionistic strivings have been shown to be related to a lower external locus of control- meaning that they were shown to be less likely to believe that their lives are controlled by chance 6.

Having a higher external locus of control (the belief that life’s outcomes are largely controlled by chance and that there is little one can do) has been linked to higher levels of stress and lower levels of self-efficacy (lower belief in their capacity to act in the ways necessary to reach specific goals)7.

For the unhealthy perfectionist, the ability to accept that outcomes are under their influence might be misdirected in combination with doubt in their ability to apply themselves as planned, resulting in crippling emotional barriers.

🌟 Self-belief

Constructive perfectionistic tendencies have been linked to a belief in one’s own abilities. This belief may facilitate the high standards/ goals to be created in the first place.

While unhealthy perfectionists may also believe that they have the ‘abilities’ to reach their goal in theory they also seem to be haunted by a fear that they might not be able to apply them, resulting in counterproductive patterns motivated by a grasp for control of themselves. Positive perfectionistic characteristics seem to be freed from this hindering fear and instead have a heightened ability to steadily work toward their goal without excessively looking for ways to improve/ avoid mistakes.

They seem less hindered by fears of ‘not being in control of themselves’ enough to apply their abilities.

People high in self-efficacy (belief in their own capacity to act in the ways necessary to reach specific goals) have been shown to be more likely to be motivated and perform better at cognitive and sports tasks8.

Perfectionistic strivings have been linked to high self-efficacy and increased confidence after success while perfectionistic concerns have been linked to low self-efficacy and loss of confidence after failure 9.

🎯 Courage to reach far

Being able to set goals for oneself is itself already a challenge overcome. Setting specific goals requires the courage to take the risk of not meeting them. Setting goals and specifying intent has been shown to significantly improve satisfaction with outcomes, improve productivity 10 and facilitate goal attainment 11.

Perfectionistic strivings have been linked to higher rates of goal setting12.

Perfectionists have been shown to have higher rates of goal commitment than non-perfectionists13.

For the unhealthy perfectionist, the ability to set high goals for themselves might be misdirected in combination with low self-efficacy (doubt in own capacity to act in the ways necessary to reach specific goals). For the unhealthy perfectionist, these might have fuelled an emotional barrier stemming from the fear of not immediately meeting the goals like a home run and thereby confirming their fear of not being able to apply their abilities.

🔓 Redirect and Unlock Your Personal Strength

There is a reliable six-step method facilitating constructive perfectionism and unlocking the underlying strength.

1- Striving for Excellence Rather Than Expecting a Home Run 2- Practice Over Pressure 3- Realise Worrying About Mistakes Is Trivial 4- Enjoy Striving Rather Than Preventing Falling Short 5- Work With What Has Been Achieved 6- Work Strategically With Yourself

🖍 Striving for Excellence Rather Than Expecting a Home Run

“It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.”-Einstein Being upset at oneself that things don’t go the ‘home run’ in every aspect, the first time around is not only irrational but also builds off a mindset that will likely result in lower goal attainment, worse performance and lower satisfaction in the long run.

The fear behind this destructive way of thinking seems to be based on the ‘fixed mindset’ where people are either good at things or they aren’t, as opposed to the constructive growth mindset holding the belief that most skills can be acquired with practice and with the use of learned techniques 14.

The individual with a fixed mindset would see not meeting the respective task at excessively high standards immediately as confirmation of the fear ‘that they are not made for this anyway’ and would get discouraged to try different approaches or continue trying at the task at all.

Instead, a significantly more effective mindset is to approach a task with a certainty of your ability to complete it. Understanding that it is only a matter of trying out different approaches utilizing available insights by others as stepping stones and learning the skills required to get there.

There should be a reassured expectancy that one will slip up, experience setbacks and come across problem areas which one has yet to find solutions for.

🔭 Practice Over Pressure

Reassure yourself of your capability to meet your goals with due practice, the use of effective techniques and dedication rather than pressure.

The unhealthy perfectionist may place excessive counterproductive pressure on themselves in an attempt to force apply themselves.

Incorporate the approach that adding excessive pressure is counterproductive and can contribute to hindering thought patterns and counterproductive behavior. Hold the understanding that it is effective to carry tasks out efficiently rather than stretching them out while trying to optimize every detail.

In general, appreciating the utility of practice and viewing personal mistakes, as an improvement chance.

⛏️ Realise Worrying About Mistakes Is Trivial

Rationalize to yourself how focusing on avoiding mistakes is not only an ineffective way of using time but it can also hinder you from finding tools for progress and getting you closer to your goal.

Acknowledge how excessively criticizing yourself for mistakes can lead to inflated hindering fear-driven thought patterns.

With this rationale, actively stop yourself when engaging in worry about how to avoid mistakes or excessive self-criticism.

Practicing dismissing these concerns will subdue their impulse.

🎚️ Enjoy Striving Rather Than Preventing Falling Short

Place a focus on striving toward your intended progress, not in a pressure-driven way like the unhealthy perfectionist may put pressure on themselves when making a mistake, but in a light-hearted eagerness-driven way.

Approaching the progress path with “I get to do this”, rather than “I have to do this”.

Simply approaching the task with eager interest or light-hearted enjoyment can transform the activity into an entirely different experience.

This can make it easier to solve tasks at hand efficiently and make progress steadily.

💠 Work With What Has Been Achieved

Instead of needlessly criticizing yourself over; acting or not acting in certain ways that you critique from your current standpoint, use what you can build on, at this point and appreciate what you have achieved until now.

🚩 Work Strategically With Yourself

Be reassured in your ability to apply yourself and calmly work out how you can get yourself to your intended goal.

Practice different techniques and methods of going about your intended progress the way you would like and figure out which is the most effective for you.

Expect that there will be times you will fall off intended progress and that the will-powered you will not always be in control.

When this happens, instead of overly criticizing yourself, think of the underlying motivation such as emotional temptations/ fears that lead you there and try out different techniques that could meet those more effectively.

When identifying a personal lacking in skill or insight, think strategically and ask for help.

Approach it with “are there insights and or skills that others have used in similar situations that I could benefit from?”.

Seek out others that might have gotten past similar challenges you are currently facing. And look for methods, tools, or skills that they have learned or used to make progress.

The unhealthy perfectionist would be more likely to feel shame for falling short and confirm their fear that they are not able to apply themselves as they would like to.

The healthy perfectionist would be more likely to approach setbacks as a challenge and work on finding a solution.

✳️ Reveal the personal strengths

The perfectionist’s ability to accept that they influence outcomes, their ability to strive far, together with the absence of excessive self-criticism and hindering fears; enable a potent endurance making it possible to steadily improve oneself with practice. This facilitates an ability to securely pursue strivings and keep going despite setbacks.

Healthy perfectionism has been shown to be linked to endurance and active coping styles 15. These qualities enable the capacity for someone to withstand knockdowns and frustration.

Having overcome negative fear-driven aspects of perfectionism, these personal strengths can positively transform experience and achievement in all areas of life.

Root Cause of Perfectionism

References

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