A procrastinator perfectionist would experience immense difficulty writing this sentence because it comes at the beginning of a book about perfectionism and, accordingly, needs to be perfect (and there’s no better first sentence than the one a procrastinator perfectionist imagines in her head but never actually writes down).

Messy perfectionists don’t necessarily appear messy in their presentation or create literal messes around themselves, it’s that they try to do a million things at once in a way that (at least figuratively) piles up all over the place.

Illness models are also based on atomism, which supports the idea that the source of what’s wrong can be traced down to one thing.

This results in the perfectionist experiencing, more often than not, a compulsion to bridge the gulf between reality and an ideal themselves.

You don’t heal by changing who you are; you heal by learning how to be yourself in the world.

It’s not that perfectionists don’t know how to have fun; it’s that perfectionists have strong eudaemonic orientations.

We all have very good reasons not to trust ourselves. We’ve all betrayed ourselves badly, repeatedly, shamefully, and knowingly. Show me someone who hasn’t abandoned themselves, and I will show you a child. As we grow into adults, our world opens and we make mistakes. Ignoring your own needs and deserting yourself is a universal mistake.

Even when procrastinator perfectionists are able to get something going, they can find it difficult to continue because continuing involves restarting.

As long as you’re playing small, that energy rattles inside you and makes you ache. Stop cursing the ache and become curious about why it’s there. If you’re a perfectionist, you want more of something. What is it? Why do you want that? How do you imagine getting what you want will make you feel? Perfectionism invites a deep, unending exploration of