How to Cure Perfectionism with Oliver Burkeman

Factually! with Adam Conover

Headgum

Comedy

4.6 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 20 May 2026

⏱️ 77 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Like it or not, we all have our limits. But this world seems to want to make us feel guilty for not constantly trying to outdo ourselves—we’re made to feel like failures if we’re not always becoming more efficient, more optimized, more “together” versions of ourselves. To put it frankly, this sucks. Author and previous guest Oliver Burkeman has written a book on how the pursuit of optimization just drives us further away from the core of happiness: embracing ourselves as we truly are. This week, Adam and Oliver talk about how to relieve the pressures that society puts on us and how to find peace and freedom in self-acceptance. Find Oliver’s book, Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts, at factuallypod.com/books

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is a headgum podcast.
0:05.0	I don't know the truth.
0:08.3	I don't know the way.
0:10.9	I don't know what to think.
0:13.6	I don't know what to say.
0:16.6	Yeah, but that's all right.
0:19.4	That's okay.
0:22.0	I don't know anything.
0:27.0	Hey there, welcome to Factually.
0:28.6	I'm Adam Kanofer.
0:29.2	Thank you so much for joining me again on the show.
0:32.3	I'm so thrilled to have you here.
0:33.8	You know, I'm not going to lie to you guys.
0:35.7	It's been a little bit of a rough couple weeks for me. It's been a little bit of a rough couple weeks
0:37.6	for me. I've been a little bit not feeling, you know, 10 out of 10 on the mood scale.
0:44.1	I have found myself over the past couple weeks dwelling a lot on my, my mistakes, things I
0:50.9	wish I could have done better. Errors I've made over the past few weeks, even the
0:56.4	past few years.
0:58.7	And that's a habit that I honestly have a lot more than I wish I did.
1:03.9	And I think it comes out of who I am.
1:06.5	You know, my career and my personality are really based on striving, on trying to improve myself.
1:15.0	You know, I believe and I have made myself believe through constant effort that if I work hard,
	...

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