I Have Never Met A Happy Perfectionist

I have often said I have never met a happy perfectionist.  According to this article in the New York Times, it looks like researchers are starting to agree:

...several recent studies stand as a warning against taking the platitudes of achievement too seriously. The new research focuses on a familiar type, perfectionists, who panic or blow a fuse when things don’t turn out just so. The findings not only confirm that such purists are often at risk for mental distress — as Freud, Alfred Adler and countless exasperated parents have long predicted — but also suggest that perfectionism is a valuable lens through which to understand a variety of seemingly unrelated mental difficulties, from depression to compulsive behavior to addiction.

Some researchers divide perfectionists into three types, based on answers to standardized questionnaires: Self-oriented strivers who struggle to live up to their high standards and appear to be at risk of self-critical depression; outwardly focused zealots who expect perfection from others, often ruining relationships; and those desperate to live up to an ideal they’re convinced others expect of them, a risk factor for suicidal thinking and eating disorders...

As an experiment, Ms. Provost had members of the [pefectionist] group slack off on purpose, against their every instinct. “This was mostly in the context of work,” she said, “and they seem like small things, because what some of them considered failure was what most people would consider no big deal.”

Leave work on time. Don’t arrive early. Take all the breaks allowed. Leave the desk a mess. Allow yourself a set number of tries to finish a job; then turn in what you have.

The result?

Much to the surprise of the perfectionists, everything continued to function as usual, and much of their perfection-motivated worries weren't all that important. If you've got similar perfectionist inclinations—or you're just in the spirit of the holidays—give yourself a break and give this exercise a go. While you're at it, here are 10 other ways to defeat brain drain.

(HT Lifehacker)