“Perfectionism, we wrongly assign only to overachievers. I think most perfectionists are actually underachievers.”
When I first heard Monica Packer of the podcast About Progress explain this phenomenon–that a perfectionist can actually become an underachiever–I was stunned. I recognized that she was describing me. I had gone from a hardcore overachiever (who had developed eating disorders as a result) to an apathetic underachiever who avoided making any sort of goals in my life.
In this week’s episode, Monica describes her own similar journey and how she has now found a middle ground: striving for “progress, not perfection.” She gives us three takeaways to consider as we head into the New Year about how to set goals that will push us to improve while also helping us maintain our mental health.
1) Don’t think too much.
2) Make room for failure.
3) Make your goals visible.
Listen in as she and I dive into these principles and offer specific examples from our own lives as “recovering perfectionists.”
Show Notes
Monica’s website and podcast: About Progress.com
Her Intro episode that resonated so deeply with me: http://www.aboutprogress.com/2016/11/most-likely-to-be-talk-show-host.html
To get the PDF printable of each month’s take-aways, visit my website and sign up: 3in30podcast.com.
