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Ten Signs You May Be a Perfectionist (continued) 

Depressed by Unmet Goals 

Perfectionists are much less happy and easygoing than high achievers, tending to beat themselves up and wallow in negative feelings when their high expectations go unmet. 

Fear of Failure 

Perfectionists are also much more afraid to fail than are high achievers.  Since anything less than perfection is seen as “failure,” this can lead to…  

Procrastination 

Fearing failure, perfectionists will sometimes worry so much about doing something imperfectly that they become immobilized and fail to do anything at all! 

Defensiveness 

Less than perfect performance is so painful and scary to perfectionists, they tend to take constructive criticism defensively. 

Low Self-esteem

Perfectionists tend to be very self-critical and unhappy and suffer from low self-esteem. They can also be lonely or isolated as their critical nature and rigidity can push others away as well. 

While there is certainly a spectrum of perfectionist tendencies, many suffer from such unproductive thoughts.  Closely linked to shame (see week 3 of these devotions), there is little room for God’s grace towards yourself or others. 

Reflect

To which of these descriptions do you most relate? 

Do you have loved ones or friends who exhibit these tendencies? 

How does the unmerited grace of God speak to perfectionism? 

Pray

Let us pray, 

Lord God, seeing our eternal brokenness you came to this earth in the form of an infant: vulnerable, dependent, and needy.  You gave your Son as a sacrifice for our sin – because you knew we were incapable of saving ourselves.  Open our eyes to boldly respond to your call to discipleship, even as we accept the reality that we will never be perfect.  We pray in the name of the one who died on our behalf, Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Amen. 

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Tags: devotions, fasting, Lent, perfectionism