Perfectionism And Burnout – Perfect Is The Problem
As a recovering perfectionist, I love this question. We often believe that perfectionism is a superpower, but today, I’m covering all the ways perfectionism and burnout are linked.
If you’re a perfectionist who’s constantly exhausted, frustrated, overwhelmed, and left feeling guilty about everything undone on your to-do list, this post is for you!
If this post hits close to home, check out the first three episodes in this Burnout Series linked below! And if you’re ready to start down the road to becoming a recovering perfectionist, I’d love to help – start by booking a no-cost Discovery Session.
If you want to learn more about burnout, make sure you check out the other episodes in this series:
I’ve got a lot of experience both with perfectionism and burnout. So I’m answering this question as a recovering perfectionist, as someone who has been burnt out, and as a coach who now helps burnt out perfectionists find their way from ever present guilt to a life filled with freedom, self-worth, ease, and joy.
As a perfectionist, I struggled when I saw anything done in a way that was below my incredibly high standards. For me, this primarily applied at work, but it impacted the way I viewed everything else including my relationships and my home.
Perfection is a fantasy, not reality
A truth in all of our lives is that there are only 24 hours in a day. There are only 7 days in a week. And there are only 365 days in a year.
Given that universal truth, in order to perfectly take care of everything I thought I needed to control, I would have needed to clone myself ten times. Or find a way to freeze time.
So every day, something had to be sacrificed. Cut from the long list of to-do’s as the hours in the day rapidly disappeared. And often, the first thing to go was my self-care.
The critical importance of self-care
It’s important to remember that in addition to a limited amount of time each day, we also all have a limited amount of mental, physical, and emotional energy. And the only way we recharge that energy is through self-care.
Self-care is so much more than a bath, it’s eating nutritious food, it’s getting sufficient rest both in quality and quantity, and it’s engaging in activities that leave you feeling like you’ve just gotten a warm hug from your favorite person in the world.
So if each and every day, you sacrifice self-care because you’re determined to make everything you touch perfect, your energy reserves become more and more depleted.
And just like a car, when you run out of fuel, you can’t go anymore. That’s burnout. When your energy reserves dip so low that you end up suffering from illness, disease, and disorders.
The quest for perfection leads to burnout
If you recognize yourself in this description, know that you’re heading for burnout if you aren’t there already.
This episode of Solicited Advice is one in a series on burnout, I’ve linked to the others at the start of the post. However, if perfectionism is driving you to burnout, I encourage you to focus not only on preventing and recovering from burnout, but also explore what it might look like to become a recovering perfectionist.
This is big work! If you would like support and guidance as you move through this journey, I’d love to be there for you! Learn more about my Group and Private Coaching programs. Or get started by scheduling a no-cost Discovery Session today!
