It’s good to hold yourself to high standards; but pursuing perfectionism can be detrimental to the health and wellbeing of your coworkers and your organization. Watch for these signs that your perfectionism is becoming toxic:
- You obsess about what you didn’t do, making your unable to reflect on what you did and what you accomplished. You dismiss or ignore compliments and positive feedback and ruminate over mistakes.
- You are overly worried about will happen if you or your colleagues fall short of your high standards. You get upset or agitated if you think an assignment won’t be finished according to your standards.
- You consistently miss deadlines because you don’t think your work is good enough. You spend countless hours fine-turning and reworking assignments. You never seem to feel ‘done.’
- You don’t socialize at work because you’re too worried about coming off as ‘not perfect.’ You put on a face of perfection all day every day. You never let down your guard or relax at work.
