How the Need for Perfectionism in the Workplace has Mental Health Repercussions

Perfectionism is often seen as a good thing. After all, there’s nothing wrong with doing your best and having high expectations. However, most people don’t understand that there’s a major difference between high expectations and unrealistic ones. That’s perfectionism, and more often than not, it’s not the healthy drive for success that people think. 

In fact, the need for perfectionism in the workplace can have mental health repercussions. Let’s take a closer at that and what you can do to protect your mental well-being if you consider yourself a perfectionist.

You Can Feel Unhappy With Your Life

One of the biggest issues people who deal with perfectionism often face is general unhappiness with life. When you have unrealistic expectations for yourself (and others), you will feel let down when those expectations aren’t met. When it comes to your work life, that often means losing confidence in your job or wondering if you’re not really as good as you want to be. You might start to resent your job for making you see those things.

Of course, it doesn’t stop there. The low self-esteem and lack of confidence often quickly bleed over into other areas of life. You might start to feel like a failure just because you can’t keep up with your own standards of perfection. 

It Can Lead to a Lack of Productivity

You might think that being a perfectionist would make you the most productive person at work. That’s rarely the case. Instead, your need to be perfect might end up negatively affecting your productivity. It can cause you to become hyper-focused on a specific project or task. You might think that you can’t move on or start something new until that particular project meets your expectations. Meanwhile, other work will keep building up, and you’re likely to fall behind. When that happens, you’ll feel an even greater pressure to succeed, and it can increase your stress levels quickly.

It Can Cause Problems With Co-Workers

Often, perfectionists don’t just have high standards for themselves but for others, too. When you’re in a workplace environment, you might expect everyone to live up to your unrealistic expectations. Obviously, that’s impossible, and it can seriously strain your relationships with co-workers. If you’re in a leadership position, it might even impact the work environment and create toxicity.

You Might Stop Trying to Succeed

Ironically enough, people who are perfectionists often stop trying to succeed after experiencing issues with self-esteem and burnout for too long. You might start to question the point of your efforts. Or, you might feel like you’re such a failure that there’s no way you can keep going forward at work. Spending so much time trying to succeed and holding yourself to an impossible standard of success often leads to major crashes and feelings of defeat.

The Long-Term Mental Health Consequences

A perfectionist mindset can take a toll on your mental health very quickly. Whether you lose confidence, put excess stress on yourself, or you’re constantly worried about being perfect, it can lead to feelings of anxiety or depression. Those issues don’t disappear on their own. They can impact relationships and create extreme consequences for your overall quality of life.

Perfectionism often stems from a need for control. If you’ve always considered yourself to be a perfectionist, but it’s started to take a toll on your professional life and mental health, it’s never too late to dig deeper. Consider reaching out for professional help. Together, we’ll get to the root cause of your perfectionism and work on ways of overcoming it. Not only will you be happier and more fulfilled at work, but you’ll experience better mental health and a greater sense of peace.

Reach out to me to learn more about anxiety therapy and how it can help you with your perfectionism.