7 signs your perfectionism out of control

The world we live in does create a shrine for perfectionism. From our early years, our parents, teachers and co. do push us to be high achievers. We praise the very high grades, the AAA, the A++++, "good job", "good boy", "I'm very proud of you", and the uncomfort or shame that sometimes comes with a D, or a not so good drawing we give our uncle. What this all fails to do is to teach us balance.

Balance.

• Without balance, we give everything we have to achieve our goals, but we dont know when to pull back.
• Without balance, we dont know when enough is actually enough.
• Without balance, we constantly feel things are not as they should be.
• Without balance, feeling that nothing is working out right feeds our anger, and our mental health.

Perfectionism is a common habit found amongst us, marketers. We are so passionate about what we do, our brands, our innovataions, working with our digital and crea agencies, going through the conclusion of our latest research, that we hide our perfectionist habits behind hard work and zeal.

Having worked myself for almots 2 decades in marketing and now coaching marketers, this can end up being a nasty habit to have. Here are 7 signs to watch out for that your perfectionism is now out of control.

1. You take mistakes personally. You probably overestimate the impact of your mistakes, making you feel bitterly disappointed, less resilient and unable to bounce back. You see it as a confirmation that you're not competent/good enough.

2. You're risk-adverse. Your hard work, analysis and attention to detail helps you create genius ideas. However, they often stay in your mental drawer because of that fear of risk. This is in turn affecting your confidence.

3. You live in fear of rejection. If you don't have the approval of others, you don't feel successful. You might dread asking for a raise, a promotion, to take the lead on this innovation launch project. Living in fear makes you feel terrible at time, impacting your creativity and slows your career, most notably.

4. You get defensive when you receive feedback. That's because you care so much about what other people think of you. You almost act defensively before you realise it was well presented, but yet felt like a fork in your eye. Your intense desire to succeed gets in the way of hearing words for what they are.

5. Procrastinator could be your middle name. Perfectionism and fear of failure are the perfect recipe for procrastination. Any task looks intimidating when they must be done perfectly.

6. You recognize perfectionism is an issue but thinkg it's what it takes to succeed. You use hard work as a justification for the unnecessary pain you are going through. Are you able to see that it creates unnecessary struggle though?

7. The little-known secret of all perfectionists...Taking pleasure in other people's failures. I've said it. Oh yes. You just can't help but find relief in knowing that other people experience the same frustrations as you do. These moments of satisfaction are very quick, and then in fact make you feel bad for being so competitive.

How many signs do you recognise in yourself at work? How does your perfectionism impact you in your brand job? How does it impact YOUR brand? Your career progression?

Taming your frustration, anger and anxiety AND increasing your emotional intelligence is how you can overcome this. Not in the moment when emotions run high, but when you're in a good place, there are many questions to ask yourself and work through your individual circumstances. It's all about undoing these perfectionist habits over time that do not serve you, and re-establishing new helpful habits and thoughts to gain control over it when it matters most.

Don't let perfectionism run your career!

Speak soon,

Mags