The Perfection Syndrome: Is it OK NOT to be Perfect?

Everyone wants to be perfect! This is the truth of the millenials living in the 21^st Century under the constant supervision of social media and other such channels. While there is nothing wrong in being perfect or striving to be one, but because of its conceptually abstract nature, trying to be perfect puts a lot of stress and pressure. Be it something as simple as your looks to your academic scores and even the vacations you take; striving for perfection in every walk of life often leads to people suffering from ‘The Perfection Syndrome’. In this video, Teen Life Coach and Motivational Speaker Rajat Soni debunks the myths that are associated with being perfect and why is it okay NOT to be perfect. So, let’s find out!

Pressure to be Perfect

Be it academics, sports or extracurricular activities, millennial and youngsters are under severe pressure to be perfect. While some of this pressure is inflicted by the society or the peer group, a lot of it is self-induced. But while striving to be perfect, students often don’t realize that there is no fixed definition of being perfect. In fact, in the race to be the perfect person, students often start following each other or copying each other’s actions. They need to understand that the moment they become perfect, they stop learning and growing.

Below, you will find the five key tips that will help you to overcome the perfection syndrome and the pressure to be perfect easily:

Tip #1: Congratulate Yourself

First, Congratulate yourself, ask yourself, if you are a better version of yourself than last year or last month or even yesterday; if you are, you doing great!  Congratulate yourself for that. You have to be a student for life and learn, contribute and grow consistently.

Tip #2: Affirmations

What we say to ourselves matters a lot. The affirmations that we reinforce on our subconscious mind helps us to build strategies that will help us achieve them. Therefore, try to re-affirm the basic tenants of your life like being real, genuine and most importantly yourself. Your ultimate goal in life should be to learn new things rather than being perfect.

Tip #3: Avoid Overthinking

Do you know that our mind is capable of having as many as 60,000 thoughts in a day! Despite this, we often tend to depend on one or two thoughts and only focus on them. This leads to overthinking. Therefore, instead of trying to overthink one or two issues, the key likes in organizing and structuring your thoughts in a better way. This will also help you not only to declutter your mind.

Tip #4: Be Your Own Best Friend

It is very important to adopt a friendly approach towards your own self. This will help you accept yourself with all your strengths and weaknesses. Being your own friend will also give you the necessary confidence to take risks in life and move forward. It will help you to learn from your mistakes, overcome insecurities and be a happy and satisfied person. All of these aspects are much more important than merely being perfect.

Tip #5: Appreciate & Accept Differences

The way you have your own unique identity and personality, others also have their own. In order to get over the perfection syndrome, it is important to accept and appreciate the differences among the people and their perspectives. Each one of us is unique in our own way and we have our own set of imperfections and that’s what makes us unique. We tend to discriminate sometimes on the basis of colour, talent, physical shape, mental stability and so many more things. Let us learn to appreciate and allow others to be imperfect and help them learn and overcome these imperfections.

About the Expert

Rajat Soni is a Teen Life Coach, a motivational speaker and the founder of RajatSoni International, an organization catering to the overall personal development of teenagers. He helps teens and pre-teens overcome shyness, social anxiety, learning difficulties and any other factors that may be stopping them from achieving their full potential.