Ed Gandia breaks down why perfectionism backfires and the difference between maladaptive and adaptive perfectionism. The episode draws on a BBC article to show how chasing flawlessness damages mental health, and argues for pursuing excellence and courage instead.
Welcome to the High Income Business Writing Podcast, helping you propel your writing business to a whole new level. And now, here's your host, Ed Gandia.
Hey there.
Welcome to another episode of the High Income Business Writing Podcast, the number one podcast for business writers and copywriters who want to earn more and less time doing work they love for better clients. With over 1 million downloads from listeners just like you across 101 countries, this episode is much shorter than usual. Rather than my typical 45 minute format. Today I'm sharing a quick tip with you. This is part of the Audio Insights I publish for my private coaching clients every weekday and I thought you'd find it helpful. So here we go.
Hope you enjoy it. Let's talk again about perfectionism, because unlike what we may have been led to believe, it is not a virtue. I recently came across a really interesting article on the BBC's website on this topic and it turns out the researchers are finding that perfectionism is dangerous. And not just dangerous, it leads to a long list of health problems and that list is growing and it's on the rise. According to the article, perfectionistic tendencies have been linked to a laundry list of clinical issues, including depression and anxiety, even in children. By the way, self harm, social anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, binge eating, anorexia, bulimia, post traumatic stress disorder, chronic fatigue syndrome, insomnia, hoarding, chronic headaches, and even early mortality and suicide. Social psychologists Thomas Curran and Andrew Hill conducted a meta analysis of rates of perfectionism from the years 1989 to 2016. This was the first study to compare perfectionism across generations. That's what made it so important and so fascinating. In the study, this meta analysis found significant increases among more recent undergraduates in the us, the UK and Canada. They even quoted a child development researcher at West Virginia University saying, and this is actually quite stunning. And she said, and I quote, as many as two in five children and adolescents endemic any public health issue, unquote. Now the article went on to life into business and I'll quote from the article again. Perfectionism, after all, is an ultimately self defeating way to move through the world. It's built on an excruciating irony. Making and admitting mistakes is a necessary part of growing and learning and being human. It also makes you better at your career and relationships and life in general. By avoiding mistakes at any cost, however, a perfectionist can make it harder to reach their own lofty goals. Now the article went on to explain that perfectionism isn't always bad. Some researchers say there's an adaptive or healthy perfectionism, which is characterized by having high standards, motivation and discipline, as opposed to a maladaptive or unhealthy version when your best never seems good enough and not meeting goals frustrates you. So I guess you know one way to think about this is that adaptive perfectionism is the pursuit of excellence. It's based on a growth mindset and it's all about learning from mistakes and growing as a result, where maladaptive is extremely destructive. One last bit from the article, it said that perfectionism isn't a behavior and I found this interesting. It's a way of thinking about yourself. So it's really about what you're telling yourself, the story you're telling yourself when you choose not to go after something important. Or when you write your white paper draft and it's not coming together very well. Or when you don't land that client. Or maybe a new prospect tells you that you're too expensive so it's not what happens as much as how you interpret the event. And when you're telling yourself something negative such as oh, you suck at this or this is hopeless or who am I to think that I could blame that client? When you're saying these things, you're discouraging yourself from trying new things. You're discouraging yourself from taking healthy risks and developing greater courage and conquering your fears. So the bottom line is this perfectionism is a self defeating approach to business and to life. It discourages you from getting out of your comfort zone, from putting yourself out there and learning from your mistakes. Instead, seek excellence and value courage over safety. You'll be much better for it.
Well, that's it for today. I hope you enjoyed the episode. And just a quick reminder to grab your free copy of my latest book, Earn More in Less Time. The Proven Mindset, Strategies and Actions to Prosper As a Freelance writer. You can get your free copy@b2b launcher.com where you will also find the detail show notes to this and all my other episodes. Enjoy and have a great day.
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