procrastinator perfectionists live in the space between knowing you have a gift you want to share (romantic love, talent, a new idea, etc.) and not feeling ready to share it. They see others whom they believe don’t have as much to offer shoot past them at work or with personal milestones, and it stings every time.

Messy perfectionists take over the world when they learn how to channel their enthusiasm into single, intentional missions they can execute in dynamic ways.

In some cases, the crash may result in an unexpected episode of clinical depression that stands in stark contrast to a messy perfectionist’s normally upbeat, energetic outlook—very scary for her and those closest to her.

When you don’t trust yourself, you’re waiting to catch yourself in a mistake so you can pounce on your own certainty about how unworthy of trust you are. You get petty. You become fixated on your mistakes, and you keep a tally of those mistakes. In contrast, when you notice you’ve been numbing out all week beyond a level you’re comfortable with and

Perfection is a paradox—you can never become perfect, and you already are perfect. A perfectionist in an adaptive mindset believes both those statements are true. A perfectionist in a maladaptive mindset believes both those statements are false.

The crash is inevitable because messy perfectionists contending with unmanaged perfectionism disregard natural and unavoidable resource constraints (time, money, physical energy, etc.) in enthusiastic and active pursuit of their dreams.

We reflexively implicate perfectionism both in our everyday frustrations with life and in a wide array of mental health disorders (anorexia nervosa, obsessive-compulsive disorder, etc.), and yet the field of mental health doesn’t offer a standardized definition of what perfectionism is.

Hedonic approaches to well-being seek to increase happiness and avoid pain, whereas eudaemonic approaches to well-being seek to increase meaningfulness.[17]

The word perfect comes from the Latin perficere, per (complete) and ficere (do). Something considered perfect is that which is completely done; it exists in a state of completion, wholeness, perfection.