Are You a Perfectionist?

I am definitely a perfectionist. I strive for perfection in my grades and in my extracurricular activities. Essentially, I like to be in control, to feel as though I am shaping my own perfect future. I think that I put a lot of this pressure on myself because I want to see my hard work materialize into something concrete. I believe that many people think the perfect path in life is linear -- perform well in high school, attend a highly competitive college, go to some type of graduate school, get a successful job, etc. I accepted the validity of this statement for many years. Throughout high school, I participated in a variety of clubs, played a sport, played an instrument, and spent numerous hours studying to maintain my grades, all to be the “well-rounded” student that could one day get accepted into the college of my choice. Well, this year, I received the long-awaited college acceptance. Yet, as I looked back on my high school career, I was not completely satisfied, despite achieving my goal. Something was missing, and I began to wonder, “What if my final goals in life do not fall on a straight line?” I began to realize that I had achieved a predetermined view of perfection. This is why I do not want to continue on a path of just doing things to get somewhere else. In college, I want to take all different types of classes, make a few unexpected turns, and have fun. I need to discover my own form of perfection and work towards reaching more personal, fulfilling goals.

I am not a perfectionist. I wanted to call myself a perfectionist but the word didn’t suit me well enough. I wanted to capture my feelings into words, but no words are fitting. I’ve written dozens (seriously, dozens) of essays on this topic. None are good enough. I’m not a perfectionist. They say denial only further proves that I am. But I disagree. I’m an optimist, and I don’t think optimists can be perfectionists. True perfectionists are self-deprecating. Hardworking, yes, but in a self-deprecating manner. To the point of breakage. I can’t say I haven’t been down that road, but I swerved early enough to avoid the imminent crash. Others weren’t as lucky. I used to wear the word ‘perfectionist’ like a crown, a halo of confidence and reassurance. Its mere syllables--the clean, hard ‘c’ and the soft-spoken suffix -ist--made me grin. I didn’t realize then, but it would become a derogatory term. So, in more recent months, I’ve taken out my personal dictionary and replaced the word entirely with a new, more versatile, more forgiving equivalent. Carefully erasing each letter of my ex-favorite word and brushing away the remnants of eraser, I etched it in permanent ink: ‘work in progress’. To me, the terms ‘work in progress’ and ‘perfectionist’ are essentially synonymous. My whole life I’ve considered myself to be both, however, I only resent being the latter. Some may think being a work in progress to be a bad thing. Luckily, I'm a remarkably optimistic work in progress.

It come soon to no shock to me that so many children’s mental health is being negatively affected trying to perfect their way of living. I as a student feel pressured by my friends and sisters who excel in school to do just as well, especially from my parents who need to see the same straight A’s that come home in my siblings report cards. I try and push myself in my honors classes and I find myself constantly checking my grades and anxious to bring them home. Perfectionism influenced by social media has increased by 33% since 1989 and I find my mental health and those of other student more important than the unrealistic expectations we set for ourselves. And if we continue to strive for “perfection” we will never in our eyes succeed.

I am no perfectionist. I don’t think there is such a thing.Perfection is a thought of something so good it doesn’t have to change. You can try to be perfect but you won’t achieve it. People use the word perfect like how people use the word “utopian”.

I am a perfectionist. I want to do everything correct and perfect, but I know that I won't be able to become perfect. It's weird. I want to be perfect, but I know, deep in my heart, I will never achieve perfection. This has something that has hit me back in freshman year. I always try to get the best grades, not the highest but like straight As.

To me, the pressure to be successful comes from myself. Sure, my parents are always there to remind me that grades are important and that school should always be my priority. However, I am the one that puts immense pressure on myself to succeed. After doing well in a competition, a reputation forms for me, and the next competition I am known as a rival. This feeling pushes me to work harder to the so-called “perfection.” Thomas Curran says that “millennials feel pressure to perfect themselves partly out of social media use that leads them to compare themselves to others,” a statement that I agree with. After seeing the success others have had through social media, there is an internal urge to do better than that person. Human beings are constantly comparing each other, and knowing that you are better than another person sparks a feeling of pride and accomplishment that is irresistible.

I think that social nets really affect the perfectionist. Because they provide there the opportunity to see the achievements of other people and this motivates doing something better. Putting high standards for themselves can both act positively and negatively. From the positive side, you motivate yourself to do better to strive for something or better to self-actualize yourself in life, but you can get a lot of stress.

Hello my name is Hila Pollak and i'm a perfectionist. I think that is one of my best qualities because you play to win. In our world life can be difficult and if you want to succeed you need to be the best-if i my work isn't perfect i wouldn't hand it. because of this habit i became a competitive person this taught me to never quit. perfectionism made me strong. Hopefully this attribute will help me to become a doctor. I'm glad to call myself a perfectionist.

Hallo there, I think this article is very important and connected to our world, and especially for me as a student in 11th grade. I am very perfectionist, in all related to achievements in school and also in other activities. in my family we belive in hard work which leads you to success. Actually i don't think that i get to much pressure from my family, perhaps a little from my mom. I think that setting high standards for yourself is a positive attribute because i belive you always need to aspire to the top and not give up. Thank you for reading, Paz Gdalyahu, Diplomacy major, Yachad high school.

Nobody is perfect as multiple have always said, but in some people's eyes when you're insecure about your own life they will look at a stranger and say "wow they look like they have a perfect life" just assuming everything is amazing. Them not knowing what goes on at home or how hard you had to work for those really nice shoes on your feet. The bad part about social media is you put yourself out there sending out a message to anyone who can see it weather it is negative or positive they don't know the real you just what they see from what you display. No one will ever be perfect it's just not possible you weren't put on earth to be perfect you were put her to live the life you are living and make it better while the days go on.

Dear readers, First of all, thanks for raising the awareness about this so important topic. As I experience it, I am quite a perfectionist person, in all related to achievements in school and also in other activities. I agree with what said on the article that also social media has a negative effect about how people (and epically teenagers who are the main users of these networks) feel about themselves. In my family, we do consider a hard work and good achievements that come as a result of that work a positive thing, we believe that only if you someone work hard with dedication and determination he can success. However, I don't think that I get to much pressure from my family in all related to my grades and so on. Thank you for listening, Shay Yeger, Diplomacy and international relations major, Yachad Modiin high school, Israel.

At my age, I have a lot of things that my parents did not have. I grew to learn that the standards I value to extents higher than some, were influenced from my parent's attention and teachings. To this day their expectations are high for me as I believe they should be. I take setting high standards for myself as a positive attribute because of what I learned from the people who do the same. That doing so is beneficiary for you and those that come after you in the future. I have a lot more provided to me in favor of success than what was provided to my parents when they were my age. Basically, my parents were my first heroes. The first of whom I knew I wanted to be like. When I see or read examples of success on social media. I used to feel degraded. I acknowledge that the impact social media had on me before was a fault. Now, instead, when I see success presentations on social media I feel inspired. Many of the goals I have for myself today are influenced from social media. So, in ways, I feel close to a perfectionist, especially for the fields I have passion for. I feel the most pressure from myself to be the person I want to see myself as. This person who was influenced by people on and off the screen. For an example, I don't consider completing a course with any grade less than an A as "passing". I play multiple sports for the thrill of being in shape. I practice politeness at home. I feel privileged to have the keys that were given to me, I want to take full advantage.

Often on social media we find our selves scrolling through our feed wishing we had the life that our friend had, or that we had this amount of likes or "Wow, her life must be perfect!" Social media has provided a mask to our actual lives that we are living. Leaving everyone to believe that everyone is perfectly happy or has this super organized life. We want everyone to see the best version of ourselves on social media, Even I do! I think that social media has increased anxiety and depression rates on our youth more than it did thirty years ago with all the new ways of communication and pressures in our modern day world. People get so caught up in everyone else's lives and where there going, what this person is doing? That nobody stops to think am I happy with my life? Am I proud of my accomplishments? Social media has been a blessing and a curse. It has allowed us as a society to hide and compare ourselves in a harmful way that can be damaging to our mental health. So sometimes we just need to remind ourselves that people aren't living the perfect life that we think they are and that were doing the best we can.

Modern students seem to be more and more focused on becoming perfectionists. Due to the high use of social media, students are more likely to be pressured to do better and feel more stress when they don’t do very good. The author believes that because students are comparing themselves to others through social media, they often feel depressed, or ashamed after seeing how much the rest of their peers are doing in comparison to themselves. While I admit that students may react this way to their social media feed, I don’t think that this reaction makes sense whatsoever. I don’t understand why students would feel depression from seeing their other classmates succeed. If I were to see a post of someone's success at a sports meet, and I did not do as well at the same sports meet, I would not feel depressed, instead, I would be excited to see how they did. social media is not the problem of more and more students depression or strive towards becoming a perfectionist, I think that the problem is the mindset that the students have. I agree that students and athletes do, and should try to be as good as their peers, but I don’t think that it makes sense for them to try to be perfect at every aspect of their academic and athletic lives. I do not feel so bad about others success and I don’t see others suffering from their use of social media, however, I believe that some students or athletes make the mistake of thinking that they must be perfectionists, due to their social media use.

I think setting high standards for myself can both be a positive and negative attribute. I set high standards for myself so I strive as a student and person in society. I aim to get into well-recognized universities and to impress both my friends and family. Setting high standards for myself ultimately makes me a genuine person, but it also causes overwhelming amounts of stress and anxiety. Personally, because of my perfectionism, I do not take many breaks. I always seem to be running somewhere or spending an obsessive amount of time improving something that does not necessarily need to be perfect. As a student, I study for long periods of time and do a lot of homework. In fact, I do not socialize as much because my standards push me to exceed. Furthermore, to manage the muddle my high standards create, I have tried to create a schedule to manage my time and make myself available for what I enjoy doing, and for my grades and community. I also make different study methods for my own benefit. When I get stressed or overwhelmed, I try to relax and take a break such as listening to music or watch a quick TV show. Overall, high standards can be both beneficial and detrimental.

I am, unfortunately, not a perfectionist. I often let things slide and don't try and fix things that are even a little broken, witch is a disadvantage. In today's world being a perfectionist is a great thing and being like that can carry you to new heights and places you never thought you could reach. If I could chose to be one I would definitely do it, but I can't.

I feel the most pressured to be successful from my parents and grandparents because they have been around to watch me grow and develop skills I have not yet recognized within myself. I don’t really feel as if peers pressure me into being a better me. I leave the self-pressure to myself. I have high expectations that I always seem to fail. When it comes to sports, academics or self representation, I definitely think of myself as a perfectionist. I also think others would describe me as a perfectionist because of the way I carry myself and handle situations. Social media has a huge role in self image and tells people what they should do, can do, and more.

No, I am not a perfectionist at all. I don't believe that any one thing can be truly perfect. However I do believe in trying my best. I know that whatever I do at my age can't be perfect but as long as I have given it the best that I have got then I don't stress over it. I value the opinions of my family, teachers, and classmates, they all influence how good or bad my work is, but the only opinion that matters the most when counts is my own. Don't get me wrong, I try hard in school and sports and I want a good future for myself, but setting standards for everything as high as "perfect" can cause stress and anxiety that I, and probably everyone don't need.

I’ve been struggling with perfectionism for almost all my life. I’ve naturally always gotten good grades and at first I never really thought about it but over time I started to become obsessive with the amount of studying I put in and the outcome of my work. I definitely put pressure on myself and set extremely high standards. Since last year I’ve known that I wanted to be a neurologist. I began to research the career even more and set the goal of getting amazing grades for the rest of high school so I can get into a credited college and later on med school , to prepare myself for the rest of my career and life. So, me being my overachieving self, I’ve put in a lot of work into my schoolwork and make sure it’s perfect and worthy of a good grade. I often work myself too hard to the point where I have a mental breakdown. Recently my english teacher gave us an assignment of choosing one word we’d like to represent the person we want to become this year. I want to become less of a perfectionist (but still reaching most of my goals) and become less stressed and confident in my abilities, so I chose the word faith. Since I started the assignment, I’ve noticed a tremendous change and already see my extreme perfectionist tendencies vanishing. I learned the hard way that being a perfectionist can be beneficial and build you up, like getting good grades, but can also tear you down and consume you in a sea of stress.

To be a perfectionist is to be a person that doesn’t accept anything less than perfection. I feel that I tend to strive for perfection and I don’t want to settle for anything less but sometimes I have to. Not only does settling for less upset me but it also makes me disappointed in myself because I know I didn’t produce my best work. Settling for less upsets me but knowing after that I turn something in that I could have done better makes me even more mad. Perfectionism is a habit of mine and I feel sometimes it makes me very stressed. Not only in school is when I feel like I need to achieve perfection. I also am an avid soccer player and I wanted to continue get better, and when I mess up in practice or in a game I get made knowing that I messed up. Due to these reasons I think I would qualify myself as a perfectionist because when I am working hard at something I only strive to achieve perfection and when I don’t achieve it I get really mad. I would definitely think that my peers would classify me as a perfectionist because when doing group work I always check over everyone's work to make sure that it is done correct. In my family major achievements such as good grades for a semester or making the best soccer team are rewarded, so this makes me feel like striving for perfection is working and that if I continue I will be rewarded more. Perfection may never be achieved by me but in my mind I think striving for it is good, but sometimes it doesn’t pay off.

I would have to say, in most instances, I am no perfectionist. When it comes to school, I try to be organized and prepped for the day. But by the third week of a semester I tend to have about a forest of papers in my bookbag and unorganized binders sprung open and ripped. When it comes to my schoolwork however, I like to think of myself of making sure everything is presented neatly and exactly how I have planned out in my head. Therefore it is obvious that I do not alwasy prosper in group situations because, to my chagrin, if the person does not have my shared vision, I seem to take control and make everything perfect in my image. But in other aspects of my life I would have to say I am more of a go with the flow type person. Although I love to think ahead to my future and my college, in all honesty I have not put much thought into it. I have not made a plan of action for college, and the LAST thing I want to do right now is to think abut the job I will have to do for the rest of my life, let alone settling down and starting a family. I prefer to live in the moment and live for now because Highschool is te best four years of your young life, why not embrace it instead of trying to throw youself to the next rung on the future ladder?

I have self-oriented adaptive not real strong tendency towards perfectionism. I love organization, but I don't set myself up for perfectionism because everyone has different definition and understanding of it. I have goals, and dreams and I'm trying my hardest to do better and reach them, but I'm not going to be really depressed and I won't feel terrible if at some point in time I don't get a 100 or didn't win the first place. However, it is uncommon. I totally agree with Ms Adams when she is saying "Millennials feel pressure to perfect themselves" Yes they do. From everywhere. Teachers, Parents, Universities, Professors, even peers. And it's incredibly hard to resist. I have a friend, and her parents have very high expectations for her, she supposed to do everything absolutely right, as a result she has high expectations for herself, very high expectations. And the fact is - she is already incredible. for her age of 16, she already succeeded in things that not many people before the age of 18 even think. She is very smart and a great musician, but she doesn't see it. There are many people like that. They always look up in the sky, but never remember to look down at the ground they are standing at. And it's not social media that is causing it. I think people should try their hardest, but they also need to enjoy life and be happy with what they already have. They need to be confident and have their own opinion. They need to find find perfect middle for themselves.

I would not label myself as a perfectionist, I always try to do my best and go with the flow. However, I do strive to work hard and get good grades, but I know if I get one B it won't be the end of the world. I try to find a balance between schoolwork and just being a teenager. My dad is a lot like me in this way, we're both very type B. However, my sister is the total opposite. She is the definition of a perfectionist. She doesn't just strive for A's, she strives for A+'s, in classes 2-3 grades above her grade level, and if she doesn't meet her goal she constantly beats herself up about it. On top of this, she dances for 4-5 hours a day. She has a really hard time letting go of things if they aren't absolutely perfect. She is a constant stress-ball, like my mom. My mom is a perfectionist as well, as she projects this onto me with her high expectations. Often, I feel they're way too high, and I just can't do enough to please her. Whenever I do accomplish something I'm proud of, like getting an A on a really hard test, I rarely rewarded because that's just what's expected of me. She often treats me how she would treat herself, and I'm not a perfectionist so her standards seem impossible. That being said, she recognizes we have different personalities, and often tells me she envies how I can just relax and go with the flow. I think that being a perfectionist is good to a certain extent, but if you can't enjoy life because you're too caught up in the details, it can be harmful.

I think that having high standards for yourself can be both a positive and negative attribute. It is always good for yourself to try to be the best you can be, but it is where it gets to the point that when you do not reach your standards that defines if it is positive or negative. If you do achieve your standards and you are modest and reasonable then it could be qualified as a positive attribute. On the other hand, if when you do not reach your high standards and react poorly it becomes an issue. Again if when you fail you can come back and see what you did wrong and adjust your goals that it is okay. But, if you have a complete breakdown and can not think of anything else for the longest time then it becomes a problem. There is no gain from breaking down. It causes one to think worse of themselves than they really are. The goals should just be an extra ideal. Goals that one sets for themselves is how to make yourself better, it is for fun, no one knows about them but you. This is why they are so important for people to actually set for themselves. Since without them people begin to slip into being ordinary, without high standards there is no being extraordinary. But outrageously high standards can cause someone to slip from extraordinary to ordinary to below average. This is a reaction from one's mental state, if you cannot recover from what you have put yourself up to then there is no achieving even normal goals.

In almost all situations, I would say that I am not a perfectionist. None of my friends or family would ever say perfectionist and Lola in the same sentence- unless of course, it was about how I am not. Any antonym of 'perfectionist' you can find probably describes me pretty well. I have pretty high expectations for myself because of my parents and peers, but I don't stress if I don't meet them. My family values intelligence and academic performance over all else. I think they are much too high, however, I would probably find it easy to meet their expectations if I worked towards being more of a perfectionist.

I would categorize myself as a perfectionist, and I’m sure my family and close friends would say the same. My expectations for myself are very high and everything I do, I want to do it almost, if not, perfectly. In the article, one of the parents stated that they keep reminding their son that “perfect is the enemy of good,” and he replied with “Yeah, but good’s not enough to get into med school.” I think this really shows how much pressure students feel to do everything perfectly, because “good enough” just isn’t good enough. It’s a competitive world out there and everyone feels the pressure to be perfect. I understand that in some families, parents have too high of expectations for their children and that is one reason for perfectionism. For me, my parents expectations for me are just right, yet I still strive for perfect. I think setting high standards for yourself is healthy, if you are being realistic about it. Having too high of expectations can not only stress you out, it can bring down your confidence if you don’t succeed to the level at which you wanted to. I think striving for greatness is good, but there is a certain level where it gets too much. I think people just need to find a healthy amount and realize when they are putting too much pressure on themselves.

While perfection is something many accept they’ll never meet, I go out of my way to make things perfect even though this comes with its consequences.I always aim for perfection, despite the fact that it often becomes exhausting. The thing that drives me towards perfection is because of how I view time as being very valuable. Time is one thing we can never get back, we can get back money, trust and many other things, but time is so easily lost and wasted. It’s simply a matter of “If I’m going to be cooped up in a school building for six hours a day, I might as well try to succeed”. I understand that some may not value time as much as I do which may affect their desire for perfection, but I still believe that us as humans should all strive to reach our full potential which in my eyes is the best we can possibly perform.

“Millennials feel pressure to perfect themselves partly out of social media use that leads them to compare themselves to others,” said Thomas Curran. Now this quote I see it happen in everyday life but I don’t see it for me. I don’t see myself as a perfectionist the reason being I don’t care if I’m straight a’s all my work is done I don’t see it as a problem in my lifetime. I grew up rugged not in a bad household but not in a perfect one so it made me who I am not caring about how people view me or If my grades are perfect 100’s because I believe you’re your worst opponent in life and I set my bars low so no matter what I’ll reach them and social media doesn’t effect me like wow she looks good or wow he makes 29 million a year because they won’t pay my bills to be perfect is a lie there is no such thing for example bill Cosby perfect family came out he raped girls it’s dispicable shows you not everyone is perfect Andy there is no such thing as perfection

Perfectionism is a dangerous game we play with ourselves, ordered by everyone around us. We are people who set goals impossibly high and practically kill ourselves trying to reach them. Children who are taught/ grow to be perfectionists are more likely to have anxiety and depression. And yet, we can not help ourselves, we want the best for ourselves but perfectionism goes one step too far. It’s appears to be an innate thing but if further pushed by expectations thrown upon us since before we were even born.

I believe that now with social media we all are perfectionist to make our pages and social media platforms look intriguing to others. We're constantly judged on how well our social medias look, and that's how we are judged as people. It's very stressful for those who try to fit in, and it can be an ego- booster or an ego- dropper.

I am definatly a perfectionist and I was able to relate to this story. I am a baton twirler and there have been many situations where I have pointed something out that was not completely perfect. I am glad I am not the only one whoo seeks absolute perfection.

I am certainly a perfectionist when I work. Whenever I am putting out fires I can’t rest until the whole fireball put out. If the fire isn’t put out I can’t helo but feel partially responsible. Whenever I am at school I expect nothing less then the best grades; and when I play tennis I expect nothing less than the best results. Perfection is engrained into our society of high achievers since a young age. Most pre schoolers feel lots of pressure to learn the alphabet. Is this the society we want? A place where 4 year olds are walking around puking trying to recall A-Z?

Growing up in a world in which the pressure to succeed and stand out is at its peak, it is difficult to not fall victim to being a “perfectionist”. Though being a perfectionist can be a positive attribute, I for one feel as though it is an exhausting attribute that most often leads to disappointment. No matter how well a “perfectionist” does, their performance never seems to be good enough. As a perfectionist, I hold very high standards and goals for myself, and when I fail to meet those standards, the disappointment that I feel is incredibly overwhelming. The thought and the concept of failure is something that perfectionists struggle to deal with, simply because it contradicts the standards that he or she holds for him/herself. Though I believe that being a perfectionist is emotionally straining, I do understand why some people believe that it is a “good” quality. Perfectionists work hard, hand in quality work, and stand out in many aspects of life. However, what people fail to understand is that such achievements do not come without a substantial cost: the overwhelming burden that one feels through many stages of life is sometimes unfathomable.