11 Ways to Break Free from the Perfectionism and Procrastination Trap

Ever found yourself paralyzed by the thought of not executing a task flawlessly? This is the snare of perfectionism procrastination, a loop where the quest for flawless results leads to an endless cycle of delay and inaction.

Perfectionism and procrastination often go hand-in-hand, trapping even the best of us in a web of stalled projects and missed opportunities. So, how can you tell if you are trapped? If you can relate to these back stories of Kate and Timothy, you might as well be trapped.

Kate, an aspiring graphic designer, has been taking every course she found on YouTube, and has been hard at work practicing all she’s learned.

It’s been four months since she set out on this journey, but somehow she’s losing steam. Her designs, as she would always complain to her husband, look childish. It’s either her choice of color is off, or the fonts she uses in her designs are a terrible choice.

Despite her husband’s encouragement about how awesome her designs are for a beginner, she’s filled with negative emotions: low self-esteem and self-induced disappointment. She had hoped her designs would start to pop after four months of consistent practice, but in her eyes, they are at best drab.

She starts to put off her practice sessions, and by the time the year comes to an end, she’s quit graphic design altogether.

Then there is Timothy. He has a report to submit to his boss on Friday. It needs to be spot-on as he wants to impress. Unfortunately, this craving for a perfectly written report plagues him with dread as he fears the report will come out horrible.

He starts to dilly-dally. It’s Thursday evening and he still hasn’t written a single word for the report, which should take about eight dedicated hours to create. You can imagine how this will eventually turn out: disastrous!

The two scenarios above are an exemplification of perfectionism and procrastination syndrome. It occurs when your desire for a perfect outcome forces you into procrastinating on tasks.

In this post, we will be exploring the connection between perfectionism and procrastination, the underlying psychology behind it, and how to overcome procrastination.

What is The Connection Between Perfectionism and Procrastination?

Procrastination is a very common thing. It’s prevalent at work, school, and even in our relationships. Unfortunately, this can become a chronic habit that is difficult to break. As observed by Joseph Ferrari, 20% of US men and women are trapped in the habit.

While there are many reasons people procrastinate, the strive for perfectionism is one of the major underlying causes.

Perfectionists tend to have high, often unrealistic, expectations of themselves. When they take on a project, they expect to work on the task perfectly. Anything short of this can take a toll on their self-worth, making them believe they are no good to others and themselves.

Other times, this unwholesome desire is driven by the urge to impress people. The perfectionist is constantly harangued by what others think about their abilities and will go to any extent to impress. This deep-seated desire pushes the perfectionist into the fear of making mistakes.

To cope with this fear, the s/he resorts to one tried-and-true tactic to avoid making mistakes: doing nothing!

If a time-sensitive task is involved, procrastination is used as an escape mechanism. In the end, the task is rushed at the last minute, leading to mediocre outcomes. 

The Perfectionism-Procrastination Loop and the Psychology Behind It

The fear of making mistakes, letting people down, or criticism can push one into a state of freeze, leading to habitual procrastination.

This is often worsened by the mechanism of self-oriented perfectionism, which forces the victim to have high, unrealistic expectations of themselves. These perfectionistic tendencies, when left unchecked, can sabotage one’s sense of self-compassion, leading to self-criticism, resentment for work, and procrastination.

Until these perfectionistic tendencies are decisively dealt with, breaking out of this loop of habitual procrastination will be difficult.

Does it mean that perfectionism is bad in every sense? Quite the contrary.

When put to good use, striving for perfectionism can be your ticket to improving your craft and becoming a recognized figure in your field. For example, if you strive to go above and beyond when working on a task and accept you will falter occasionally, you will become a person of excellence. You will become optimistic and more willing to take on tasks, overcoming procrastination. This is positive perfectionism.

The key difference between positive and negative perfectionism is the willingness to accept that mistakes are part of life and don’t define character. For the former, you set your eyes on big goals, refuse to accept any excuse, yet give yourself room for error. For the latter, it’s all or nothing: your work is an embodiment of perfection or a total fiasco. 

The Perfectionist Procrastinator: Are You One?

How can you tell if you are a perfectionist procrastinator? Here are some of the tell-a-tale signs that indicate the presence of the syndrome:

1. Your confidence plummets even with minor criticism, causing you to avoid future tasks.
2. Starting a project for the first time makes you anxious due to fear of negative feedback, leading to task freeze.
3. Negative feelings overwhelm you when working on a task, convinced that your work will be terrible.
4. You have an all-or-nothing mindset, demanding perfection from yourself and avoiding tasks that may not turn out perfectly.
5. Negative self-talk is a constant companion, with thoughts like “I should have done better” or “I am terrible at this job”.
6. You often spend excessive time planning and preparing, delaying the actual execution of tasks.
7. You find it difficult to delegate tasks to others because you believe they won’t meet your high standards.

Understanding these signs is the first step towards modifying perfectionist tendencies that fuel procrastination. Let’s now explore some other causes, as well as strategies to overcome perfectionist procrastination and foster a more productive mindset.

Other Causes of Procrastination

As earlier said, perfectionism isn’t the only reason why people procrastinate. The other reasons are as follows:

• Low motivation: If you are low on motivation, you will likely want to procrastinate on a task. 
• Inability to prioritize: Starting your day with low-value tasks will sap you of the energy to tackle the most important ones, inevitably leading to procrastination.
• Task paralysis: This happens when your mind and body feel paralyzed in the face of an assignment. It is sometimes caused by ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) syndrome.
• Health challenges, such as clinical depression, insomnia, etc. can also lend a helping hand to procrastination.
• Habitual Avoidance: Avoiding tasks that are deemed boring or hard until the last minute. By then, it’s too late.

11 Best Strategies to Overcome Perfectionistic Procrastination

If it turns out you are a perfectionistic procrastinator, it’s easy to slide into despair, believing your predicaments can’t be remedied. Fortunately, it can, and you can do it all by yourself.

That being said, here are 11 sure strategies that can help you overcome your perfectionistic tendencies and beat procrastination.

1. Identify Perfectionistic Thoughts

To overcome perfectionism, start by becoming aware of when perfectionistic thoughts creep into your mind. Say you’re facing a task and the worry about making mistakes starts to surface, or you question your ability to meet expectations—these are moments where perfectionistic thoughts are at play. Rather than immediately trying to intervene or correct these thoughts, practice mindfulness by observing them without critique. Acknowledging these thoughts as natural, rather than combating them, is a vital first step in understanding your personal thought patterns. Recognize that these thoughts do not define you or your capabilities and remember that growth is a constant and universal possibility.

Mindful Practice: When you notice a perfectionistic thought, pause, take a moment to breathe deeply, and watch the thought as if it were a cloud passing in the sky. This mindfulness exercise fosters awareness and a sense of detachment, helping to decrease the impulse to react and setting the stage for healthier thinking habits.

2. Understand the Fear of Failure

Winston Churchill once said:

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal – it’s the courage to continue that count.”

That you failed today doesn’t mean you are a failure. That you performed poorly on a job today doesn’t mean you will consistently deliver poor results on subsequent tasks.

When you develop this kind of mindset, you will see your failures as a mere learning point rather than a setback. You will have the courage to keep putting in your best knowing fully well you are still a work in progress. That way, your mind won’t intimidate you into putting off your tasks.

Practical Exercise: 

Take a moment to think about something you’ve been wanting to do but hesitate because you’re afraid of failing. Picture the “worst-case scenario” that comes to mind. Write down the worst possible outcome and then think about how likely it is to actually happen. You’ll often find that even in the worst case, the consequences aren’t as terrible as your fears make them out to be. 

3. Replace All-or-Nothing Thinking

Perfectionists procrastinate because they believe their work will either turn out perfect or awful. There are no in-betweens: it’s just black or white.

This kind of thinking can get you stuck in life, as it forces you to leave no room for error when working on a job. In an ideal world, this would be possible. But we live in the real world.

To replace all-or-nothing thinking, start by acknowledging that perfection is not attainable and that making mistakes is a natural part of life. Embrace a growth mindset and focus on progress rather than perfection. Practice these strategies:

1. Embrace the learning process: View mistakes as opportunities for growth and learning. Understand that making errors is a normal part of any journey towards success.
2. Practice self-compassion: Be kind to yourself when you make mistakes. Treat yourself with understanding and forgiveness, just as you would a friend.
3. Challenge negative thoughts: When you catch yourself falling into all-or-nothing thinking, challenge those thoughts with more balanced and realistic perspectives. Remind yourself that progress is valuable, even if it’s not perfect.

Practical Exercise: Celebrate your progress, no matter how small. Take a moment each day to reflect on something you’ve learned or achieved, and give yourself credit for the effort you’ve put in.

4. Let Go of the Idea of a Perfect Start

If you take time to study the background story of most great people, you will realize that their starting is anything but perfect.

Winston Churchill performed poorly while in school but ended up becoming Britain’s greatest Prime Minister. Robert Downey Jr. spent a good deal of his time in jail for drug abuse issues before going on to find fame as Marvel’s Iron Man.

These people carried on with courage until they found success, despite their terrible start.

So let go of the idea of a perfect start – trust me, you don’t need it. What matters is to keep going no matter how many times you fail.

Practical Exercise: Keep a journal of your failures and success. This will help you stay in the game when quitting becomes tempting.

5. Recognize Overplanning Tendencies

In a bid to avoid negative outcomes down the road, perfectionists tend to try to plan out how to approach a task down to the minutest detail. Essentially, they overplan.

Overplanning is a trap that can get you stuck up. This is because when you fall into it, you’d spend the limited time you have planning your moves when preparing for a job at hand, and things might end up not working as planned. Then you would realize you had wasted your time.

Practical Exercise: Once you have a fair idea of how to approach a task, hit on it right away. Don’t overplan.

6. Break Tasks into Micro Steps

Picture this:

You help a client manage his 5 social media accounts, spread across Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. He’s asked you to prepare a report detailing the progress of each account. It’s a time-consuming task, and the mere thought of it freaks you out. So you dilly-dally.

The best way to approach this is to break the tasks into smaller, micro steps. For example, you could start creating a list and add the links to all his pages in it.

Breaking tasks into smaller chunks will make them less intimidating, hence reducing the urge to procrastinate.

Practical Exercise: Before tackling a big task, think of the simplest way to start – and start with it. Consider using AI productivity tools to manage your small tasks. 

7. Set Realistic Time Limits

Setting an unrealistic time limit for a task can lead to feeling overwhelmed and tempted to procrastinate. For example, let’s say you want to create a cookbook that typically takes a month to finish, but you convince yourself you can complete it in just five days. In reality, you’re likely to either get overwhelmed and spend three months on the book or give up on it entirely. 

Practical Exercise: Make a list of tasks you plan to accomplish this week, and assign a realistic time limit for each item on the list.

8. Practice the 2-Minute Rule

Formulated by David Allen, the 2-minute rule states that if an action takes two minutes or less, tackle it right away. By doing so, you will resist the urge to procrastinate on it.

If you practice this rule consistently, it will become a habit, and the result is you will become less of a procrastinator.

Practical Exercise: Identify items on your to-do list that will take about 2 minutes to complete. Jump on them right away. If you can, read more about the 2-minute rule or get other books on procrastination. 

9. Establish a “Done is Better Than Perfect” Mantra

There is one little tip that helps me personally when perfectionist tendencies start to stall my progress: I whisper to myself, “Good enough, move on.” 

This simple mantra is a powerful antidote to the paralysis of perfectionism. Every time you find yourself getting bogged down by the details or fretting over the flawless execution of a task, pause for a moment. Remind yourself that the ultimate goal is completion, not perfection.

Practical Exercise: Create a “Progress Board” for your tasks. Each time you complete a task, move it to the “Done” column. Seeing your achievements accumulate will give you a visual confirmation of your progress and reinforce the mantra.

10. Practice Self-Compassion

Being kind to yourself is crucial. Instead of beating yourself up when things don’t go as planned, remember that it won’t benefit you – it will only lead to becoming a habitual procrastinator.

When faced with setbacks, acknowledge your mistake, try to find humor if possible, and assure yourself that you will improve next time. It’s important to practice self-compassion and remind yourself of this regularly.

Practical Exercise: To promote self-compassion, try placing notes of affirmation around your work desk. These reminders will help you cultivate a positive mindset and treat yourself with kindness.

11. Seek Accountability

If you keep relapsing into the same vicious cycle no matter how hard you try to escape, it’s about time you sought an accountability partner to share your perfectionistic concerns.

When you find one, be open about your challenges. Share your fears and be determined to be accountable.

Practical Exercise: Find someone you trust and respect in your circle. It can be a friend, family member, or colleague. Have regular check-ins to discuss your goals, challenges, and celebrate progress in breaking the perfectionism cycle. Sharing can transform your journey, keeping you grounded and supported.

Conclusion

Perfectionism-induced procrastination is one of the many types of procrastination known to man. It happens when the desire to deliver a perfectly executed job keeps us from even trying in the first place. 

While it can become a hard-to-break habit, perfection procrastination can be overcome. 

To tackle this issue, it’s important for you to identify perfectionistic thoughts that hold you back. Break tasks into smaller, more manageable chunks so you can make progress without feeling overwhelmed. It’s also crucial for you to set realistic expectations, understanding that perfection is often unattainable.

By adopting these strategies and exploring other approaches mentioned in this post, you can conquer perfection procrastination and move forward with your goals.