Is it possible to attain perfection

This will he to help you stay motivated when the inevitable setbacks occur. Why would it be an interesting journey? For me, the journey would be about organization and achieving as clean and tidy a bathroom as is possible. What can you gain from this pursuit? Well, the techniques of cleaning and tidying can be used across our lives. Kitchens, patios, even living rooms can use a little tidying and cleaning. At least mine do. So how does one approach working towards perfection.

I would start by defining the perfection I was seeking. In the case of the bathroom, I would want every shiny surface to be shiny, nothing to be stained, wet or otherwise messy, and all the other objects that are in plain sight to be as neat and tidy as possible.

All that is left is to practice. Every week, before the bathrooms get cleaned, read the list again so it is fresh in your mind. Then you clean, attempting to get as close to perfect as you can possibly get. And repeat. Until this level of excellence is your automatic response each week to the bathroom. How close do you have to get to perfection before you declare yourself to be excellent and move on to another field of endeavor? That depends on what you do. If you play professional football, you keep it up until you retire.

I realize that this was a trivial example. You may want to be Pablo Picasso , Leonardo DaVinci or Ansel Adams , but I would recommend that you focus on being the best you that you can possibly be.

What about perfection in healthcare? As a patient do you expect your physician, nurse, pharmacist to be perfect? Physicians, nurses, and pharmacists are all human, and therefore by definition , less than perfect. To expect more from them is both unrealistic and going to result in the potential for great harm. That is why you for a doctor get a second opinion before doing anything significant, like have a surgery. That is why in Pharmacies, multiple people minimum of 2 read and verify what the label says and what the contents of the container are, and that you are the intended recipient.

Perfection is a bit of everything in balance. In the early s, Canadian psychologists Paul Hewett and Gordon Flett laid out what they described as three types or sources of perfectionism :. Dr Curran says the second type is most strongly associated with serious mental illness, such as anxiety and depression.

While his studies didn't look at what causes socially prescribed perfectionism, he says there are a few important clues that can help us understand where it comes from. He has no doubt that social media plays a big part, with his research revealing "a changing sense of how young people interact with each other and a preoccupation with the perfect lifestyle, image and status".

And while wanting more 'likes' on social might seem innocuous enough, there's a wealth of good data to show that platforms like Instagram which showcase 'perfection' make us much more unhappy.

A good friend of mine mentors gifted and talented teenage girls. She says most of the girls she sees are exceptionally bright and high achieving. Dr Curran's research into university students finds that the number experiencing "socially prescribed perfectionism" is rising dramatically. His analysis of 40, US, UK and Canadian college students found that in , just 9 per cent of the students reported feeling pressured by society to be perfect.

By , that figure had doubled to 18 per cent. It helps to know that those we care about love us unconditionally, in spite of our success or failure. One of life's hardest lessons is to learn to let go of your quest for perfection and have more self-compassion. But what I've realised through analysing the research on vulnerability is that we need to give up on the desire that everything will fall smoothly into place; that we can easily have the perfect body, career, home, family, friendship group, etc.

When you strive for perfection, often it can mean you're not comfortable with negative emotions. But if we don't allow ourselves to experience painful emotions, we also lose our capacity for happiness. As hard as it is, when we fail, we grow. So to overcome perfection, the research suggests you need to be OK with failure. The "what ifs" and expectation of a negative consequence or result preoccupies you and the pressure can be overwhelming.

I believe there's nothing we can't overcome if we put our minds to it. If you occasionally insist on perfection, but it causes you excess stress, pay attention to these situations. I suggest journaling about them to find the common link. The awareness alone will help you get to the core and figure out what it's really all about.

Observe how others accept themselves, flaws and all, and assign yourself a few virtual mentors to follow. Learning how successful people built upon their failures, instead of hiding from them, will help get things into perspective. Hewitt and Flett say that perfectionism is a risk factor for psychological disorders--not a disorder itself.

If it leads to depression, anxiety, or other exhausting mental states, therapy can help. Yes, you can develop a healthy mindset and make life much easier and more rewarding for yourself. Top Stories. Top Videos. Getty Images. The content on Tiny Buddha is designed to support, not replace, medical or psychiatric treatment. Please seek professional care if you believe you may have a condition.

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Perfection is stagnation. See more Posts. About Jenn Hand Jenn Hand, founder of jennhand. See a typo or inaccuracy? Please contact us so we can fix it! Did you enjoy this post? Please share the wisdom :. Free Download: Buddha Desktop Wallpaper.