June 12, 2026

Perfectionism: Please Stop Chasing It

Many educators strive to be perfect—or as close to it as possible. We want to make the best choices, have the perfect answers, and be ready with just the right solutions. Yet, life makes perfection difficult to attain and even more challenging to maintain. In fact, attempting to be perfect can exact a high personal and professional price.

Of course, perfectionism can garner praise and admiration in education. Its pursuit is often seen as a dedication to high standards and peak professionalism. Yet perfectionism can imply a level of flawlessness unattainable in practice, and holding ourselves to that expectation can be exhausting, frustrating, disappointing, and even humiliating.

Still, perfectionism can be a driving force for teachers who have a strong sense of responsibility. They may see others (such as colleagues or teachers who post their content to social media) as perfect and constantly compare themselves and their performance. They may accept others’ expectations of perfection as their own. Many even have a history of high academic achievement as students and expect similar levels of performance in their professional lives. Yet, these are impossible standards to sustain in our everyday work with students, colleagues, families, and others with whom we interact.

We can recognize perfectionism in ourselves and others through behaviors such as:

Spending excessive time planning lessons and grading student work.

Feeling guilty for relaxing or engaging in personal time.

Believing that our accomplishments are never enough.

Obsessing over small mistakes and missteps.

Holding unrealistically high expectations.

Having difficulty accepting help.

Being reluctant to collaborate, believing others may not meet our standards.

Unfortunately, constantly searching for and expecting perfection can have significant, long-term consequences for us. The exhaustion it causes can lead to emotional and physical health issues. Perfectionism can increase anxiety and stress and create a reluctance to innovate for fear of making mistakes and of not immediately feeling confident. Over time, perfectionism can lead to reduced resilience and even burnout.

So, what strategies can we employ to counter tendencies toward perfectionism? Here are five shifts in thinking and behavior to try:

Aim for excellence rather than flawlessness. Excellence is still a high standard, but it accommodates flexibility in the face of what is unexpected, responsiveness to changing circumstances, and improvement over time rather than constant perfection.

Prioritize progress over perfection. Focusing on progress allows us to accept where we are while remaining committed to improvement. A progress mindset values learning over expecting to already know.

Practice reflection rather than self-criticism. Reflection allows us to examine and learn from experience, while criticizing ourselves can leave us stuck in disappointment and shame. Additionally, reflection can lead to forgiveness and release, while self-criticism can lead to wounds that are slow to heal.

Seek balance in your time and attention. Realistic and flexible boundaries can help to make the workload manageable while preserving time for relaxation, renewal, and relationships.

Commit to a level of effort that is sustainable. Trying to be perfect can lead to constant overextension. Overcommitting, overexpecting, and overworking are unsustainable and will eventually exact a toll on our health and well-being.

The truth is that our students, our colleagues, our administrators, and others who depend on our work do not need us to be perfect. They need us to be caring, responsive, learning, and committed to growth. Our willingness to not always be perfect can make us more accessible, more relatable, and more human. These are important characteristics for the students who learn from us, colleagues who work with us, and others who depend on us.