But one group felt much unhappier about the whole thing – and gave up earlier. Interestingly, both groups kept putting in the same amount of effort. What he didn’t tell them was that the test was rigged: none of them would succeed. In one lab experiment, for example, Hill gave both perfectionists and non-perfectionists specific goals.
And while research shows that maladaptive attributes like beating yourself up for mistakes or feeling like you can’t live up to parental expectations make you more vulnerable to depression, some other studies have shown that ‘adaptive’ aspects like striving for achievement have no effect at all or may even protect you. (Maladaptive perfectionists, on the other hand, were more likely to be non-gifted). In one study of more than 1,000 Chinese students, researchers found that gifted students were more perfectionistic in the adaptive ways. Some researchers say there is adaptive, or ‘healthy’ perfectionism (characterised by having high standards, motivation and discipline) versus a maladaptive, or ‘unhealthy’ version (when your best never seems good enough and not meeting goals frustrates you).
This is where perfectionism gets complicated – and controversial. (Past employers, now you know! I wasn’t just being cute). Even saying you have perfectionistic tendencies can come off as a coy compliment to yourself it’s practically a stock answer to the “What’s your worst trait?” question in job interviews. "There are studies that suggest that the higher the perfectionism is, the more psychological disorders you’re going to suffer.”Ĭulturally, we often see perfectionism as a positive. "There aren’t that many other things that do that. “It’s something that cuts across everything, in terms of psychological problems,” says Sarah Egan, a senior research fellow at the Curtin University in Perth who specialises in perfectionism, eating disorders and anxiety. In other words, the average college student last year was much more likely to have perfectionistic tendencies than a student in the 1990s or early 2000s. Thomas Curran and Andrew Hill’s recent meta-analysis of rates of perfectionism from 1989 to 2016, the first study to compare perfectionism across generations, found significant increases among more recent undergraduates in the US, UK and Canada. The tendency starts young – and it’s becoming more common. If I’ve struggled with perfectionism, I’m far from alone. The surprising downsides of being clever.Why exhaustion and burnout are so common.“You’re not good enough.” That voice didn’t care that this directly contradicted what the agent actually said. “You’re never going to write a book,” my internal voice said. When an agent told me that she knew I was going to write a book someday but that the particular idea I’d pitched her didn’t suit the market, I felt deflated in a gut-punching way that went beyond disappointment. Falling short of a bigger goal, even when I know achieving it would be near-impossible, can temporarily flatten me. Something as small as accidentally squashing the panettone I was bringing my boyfriend’s family for Christmas can tumble around in my mind for several days, accompanied by occasional voices like “How stupid!” and “You should have known better”. More often than I’d like to admit, something seemingly inconsequential will cause the same feeling to rear its head again. But that feeling of deep frustration, even shame, stays with me. My marker slips, an unintentional line appears and my lip trembles. I don’t remember what the picture is supposed to be, but I remember the mistake. In one of my earliest memories, I’m drawing.