Are you a perfectionist? If so, your perfectionism is probably blocking you from reaching your health goals. 

What is perfectionism? Oxford Dictionary defines it as the refusal to accept any standard short of perfection. We tend to think of perfectionists as those who are uncompromising in the pursuit of excellence. It sounds like an honorable and virtuous quality. 

But, actually? 

Perfectionism has a lot of drawbacks, especially if you’re on a health journey. Trust me, I know, because I’m a recovering perfectionist myself. 

In this article, I’m going to uncover how the perfectionist mentality can sabotage your progress and how it paralyzes instead of inspires. 

I’ll also give some recommendations on how to overcome it so you can stay consistent with your health habits and get results. Because, at the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about. 

The Perfectionist Trap

It’s the first of the year and Julie is all set with her New Year goals, which includes dropping the last 10 pounds of baby weight. This is the year to make it happen and she’s created a plan that involves cutting back on sweets and walking for 30 minutes every day, rain or shine. 

The first few weeks into January she is killing it. She’s proud of herself for sticking to her commitment of daily walks and trading her sweet indulgences for healthier options. She’s feeling confident and energized. 

But then…a chaotic week descends like a tornado. 

She’s launching a big project for her business and a critical team member decides to quit unexpectedly. Cue the stress. 

Despite this frustrating news, she digs in her heels and decides that she’s going to stick with her commitment. The first few days of the week are challenging, but she keeps a good attitude and follows through. 

But then, mid-week another unexpected demand: Her assistant reminds her that she is booked for a virtual speaking event for tomorrow afternoon, but she has nothing prepared. 

Cue the panic. She frantically opens her presentation software and begins the process of starting her first draft. 

But she’s hyper stressed, and tearing herself away from her laptop to go for a walk seems unreasonable especially given the circumstances. So she works through the evening, scarfing a takeout meal in front of her computer. 

As she lies in bed that night, feeling grateful that she’s 70% finished with her presentation, she’s weighed down with guilt. She missed her walk for the day. 

She feels like a failure and goes on a downward spiral wondering why she ever set this goal for herself in the first place. “My life is too chaotic,” she thinks to herself. “I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to stick to any health goal.”

She beats herself up, confidence blown and momentum lost.

Expect Iteration Instead of Perfection 

Can you relate to Julie? I certainly can. The issue for Julie is partly her expectations. A serious drawback of perfectionism is that those who embody this way of thinking expect exactly that: perfection. But wellness – especially mastering wellness – is not a perfect process. 

In fact, it’s anything but. It is very much an iterative process. First, the repetition of habits is necessary.  Secondly, those habits are refined or further developed as the individual evolves on their health journey. 

This process of iteration is critical if health mastery is the goal. 

Resetting the expectation, especially when we’re talking about wellness, is key. It should be understood that iteration is the way to growth. You will try different strategies and approaches along the way and you will tweak, adjust and refine as you progress.  

Give your best effort while also expecting that there will be some mistakes and setbacks. Mentally preparing for this is an important part of building a resilient mindset, a major factor for your success.  

By expecting some mistakes instead of demanding a perfect record, you can lessen the impact of those mistakes making it easier to get back on track. So much of the heavy lifting is in your mind. 

Why Expecting a Perfect Record Makes Health Harder

If you think you need batman-level discipline and a perfect track record to transform your health, thankfully this is not true. In fact, this kind of thinking is more likely to sabotage your health goals than help you reach them. 

Here’s how perfectionist thinking can undermine your best efforts: 

• Promotes All Or Nothing Thinking: Perfectionists tend to throw in the towel and cry “failure” at the first hiccup or mistake. This completely disrupts the process of maintaining consistency with habits and refining the approach along the way.
  

• Emphasizes Deliberation Over Taking Action: A perfectionist will spend a lot of time “researching” the right nutrition plan, exercise routine or sleep schedule. There is nothing inherently wrong with gathering information, but a perfectionist will spend an unreasonable amount of time on this step in an effort to make the “perfect” choice. Instead, getting on the court and taking action (even if imperfect) is often the best choice.
  

• Obsesses Over Mistakes
  Instead of focusing on the progress made thus far, perfectionism places too much weight on a single day’s failures. It could be the guilt of a missed workout or the shame of eating too many cookies. Perfectionism hones in on the missteps, often wallowing in the negative emotions and overemphasizes the impact of the mistake.
  

• Contradicts the Human Experience
  Growth and development require mistakes. How many times does a young child stand on wobbly legs and fall before they begin to walk? With my young ones, it happened countless times. What person can learn anything without mistakes as part of the process?

Even if there is a case for this, it would be rare. Perfection is reserved for God alone and by demanding it of ourselves, we place an unnecessary burden on our shoulders. A pressure that we simply can’t live up to consistently. 

How to Overcome Perfectionist Thinking 

I mentioned at the top of this article that I am a recovering perfectionist – meaning, I have to intentionally (and consistently) work against the mental traps that I would otherwise fall into. 

Here’s what I routinely do to overcome perfectionism. 

Document Your Wins

I know. This sounded so cheesy to me when I was first introduced to the concept in a business mastermind. But, it truly helps to crush the mindset of perfectionism.  High performers and perfectionists alike tend to forget their successes and immediately move on to the next goal once the previous one has been achieved. 

To combat this, I regularly document my wins. Sometimes I do this daily, sometimes weekly, but I always have a list I can refer back to at the end of the month. 

I put my lists in a notebook so I can easily refer back and see my progress. I jot down things that I accomplished that are tangible like launching a product, but also the intangibles that are oftentimes even more important. 

These include insights into my personal development, things I’ve learned or discovered or special moments that I’ve had with Isaac or the children. Writing these things down is a personal acknowledgment that I’m moving forward with my goals and I’m doing much better than I typically think.

Talk Yourself Out of the Downward Spiral 

Mistakes tend to trigger perfectionists. Then those mistakes turn into a flurry of negative self talk that beats you up and crushes your momentum. I counter this with daily affirmations. This is another one I didn’t fully believe in until I tried it. 

Affirmations are self-empowering statements meant to support you mentally and emotionally as you make positive behavioral changes. They are one of the most powerful ways to influence your belief in yourself. 

Regular repetition of affirmations can lead to the development of new neural pathways, promoting more positive thinking patterns.

Positive thinking is like a muscle that gets built in the brain. A simple habit of affirmations in the morning can make it easier to build yourself up after you’ve made a mistake. 

This is exactly what a perfectionist needs to avoid a downward spiral. Try an internet search or use AI to generate affirmations around the topic you’re interested in (Ex: try searching “weight loss affirmations”). 

Evaluate What’s Working and What Isn’t

This has been a huge benefit for me, not just on my health journey, but in life in general. I’m constantly making notes of what’s working for me and what isn’t. The things that work, I double down on, and the things that aren’t working get changed.  

For example, I used to take meeting requests at any time during my work day in an effort to support our team. But, often my days were fragmented and my workout time was booked over with Zoom calls. I felt stressed and like I was failing because I wasn’t following through on my exercise goals. 

After a bit of reflection, I realized I needed to create boundaries around my schedule so I could prioritize my workouts. Once I communicated this to my assistant, my calendar was blocked and no meetings were scheduled during that time. It made it so much easier to follow through and be successful!

Final Thoughts

Mastering your health is not a linear process, but something to work toward over a lifetime. Ask anyone who has lost a lot of weight, massively improved their sleep or reversed a chronic condition.  

They didn’t score a perfect record. They were consistently showing up and taking action despite slipups and missteps. My encouragement to you is that while some  discipline is necessary, you don’t need to be perfect. 

You will experience some mistakes along the way, but what’s more impactful than the mistakes themselves is how you respond to them. 

You’re climbing a mountain without a summit. Rather than getting frustrated that you haven’t yet “arrived” at your destination with perfect execution, speed and agility, simply do your best, celebrate your progress and enjoy the climb. 

Now, I want to hear from you. Have you fallen prey to perfectionist thinking on your health journey? If so, what’s your biggest area of struggle and how do you combat it? Let me know in the comments below.