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Speaking of Psychology

Why do we push ourselves to be perfect? With Thomas Curran, PhD

Speaking of Psychology

Kim Mills

Health & Fitness, Life Sciences, Science, Mental Health

4.3781 Ratings

🗓️ 11 December 2024

⏱️ 34 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In job interviews and in life, perfectionism is often seen as a selling point – an asset disguised as a flaw. But as psychologists have found rising rates of perfectionism in the United States and around the world in recent decades, they’ve begun to recognize the toll that the drive to be perfect can take on people’s mental health and well-being. Thomas Curran, PhD, author of “The Perfection Trap: Embracing the Power of Good Enough,” talks about different types of perfectionism, why more and more of us feel the need to push ourselves to perfection, and what can we do – as individuals, as parents and as a society – to recognize that often, ‘good’ is good enough. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Is crypto perfect?

0:01.9

Nope.

0:02.7

But neither was email when it was invented in 1972.

0:06.0

And yet today, we send 347 billion emails every single day.

0:12.1

Crypto is no different.

0:13.5

It's new.

0:14.2

But like email, it's also revolutionary.

0:17.6

With Crackin, it's easy to start your crypto journey with 24-7 support when you need it.

0:22.6

Go to crackin.com and see what crypto can be. Don't invest unless you're prepared to lose all the money

0:26.8

you invest. This is a high-risk investment, and you should not expect to be protected if something

0:29.4

goes wrong. Have you ever done a job interview where you're asked, what's your biggest weakness? And did you answer? Oh, I'm such a perfectionist. There's a good

0:39.1

reason this answer has become a job interview cliche. Perfection after all is usually seen as a

0:45.0

selling point, an asset disguised as a flaw. Who wouldn't want to hire a perfect employee,

0:50.3

after all? But psychologist's research suggests that perfectionism may not be something

0:55.4

to aspire to at all. In recent years, researchers have found rising rates of perfectionism in the

1:01.5

United States and around the world, and they've begun to recognize the toll that the drive to be

1:06.4

perfect can take on people's mental health and well-being. So why do more and more of us feel the need

1:12.2

to push ourselves to perfection? Does our achievement culture demand it? Is it social media and the

1:18.4

endless comparisons that come with it? And what does it mean to be a perfectionist anyway? How is

1:23.8

perfectionism different from just striving for excellence? And what can we do as individuals, as parents, as a society,

1:30.5

to help ourselves and each other recognize that often good is good enough?

1:36.5

Welcome to Speaking of Psychology, the flagship podcast of the American Psychological Association

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