The Report Was Ready on Thursday. It Is Sunday Night and You Are on the Fourth Rewrite.

Mind · The Reading Room, Vol. 115 · 8 min read · which half of perfectionism predicts burnout, which half does not, and why work is where it bites hardest

Perfectionism and burnout are often mentioned in the same breath, as though high standards were the problem. A meta-analysis of 43 studies found something more precise, and more useful. One part of perfectionism was linked to burnout. The other part mostly was not. Knowing which one you have changes what you do next.

The short answer: to stop being a perfectionist you first need to know which half is running you. Perfectionism burnout is burnout driven by the anxious side of perfectionism: the fear of mistakes, the harsh self-judgement, the sense that it is never quite good enough. In a meta-analysis of 43 studies, this “perfectionistic concerns” side had medium-to-large links with burnout, while simply striving for high standards had small negative or no links.¹ The effects of the anxious side were, in some cases, worse at work than in sport or education.¹

The quarterly report is due at nine on Monday. It was ready on Thursday. It is now 11:40 on Sunday night and you are on the fourth rewrite of the executive summary, changing “significant” to “substantial” and then back again. Nobody will notice the difference. You know nobody will notice. You also know you cannot send it until it feels right, and it has not felt right since Thursday.

By Monday afternoon you are exhausted in a way that no longer lifts at weekends, and you are starting to wonder whether the high standards that built your career are the same thing that is now taking it apart.

Jump to: The two halves of perfectionism · What the meta-analysis found · Why work is worse · The perfectionism burnout cycle · The 85% line · Questions women actually ask

What are the two sides of perfectionism?

Researchers stopped treating perfectionism as one thing some time ago. They now tend to split it into two parts that behave very differently.

Perfectionistic strivings are about setting high standards and working hard to meet them. Perfectionistic concerns are about what happens around those standards: fear of making mistakes, harsh self-criticism when you fall short, a sense that others expect perfection of you, and the feeling that nothing is ever quite good enough.¹ The first sounds like “I want this to be excellent.” The second sounds like “If this isn’t perfect, I’ve failed, and they’ll see it.”

Most high-achieving women have some of both. The question that matters for burnout is which one is driving at 11:40 on a Sunday night.

Is perfectionism linked to burnout?

One half of it is, strongly. In 2016 Andrew Hill, now at York St John University, and Thomas Curran published the first meta-analysis of perfectionism and burnout, combining 43 studies with 9,838 participants and 663 effect sizes across work, sport and education.¹

Perfectionistic concerns showed medium-to-large positive relationships with overall burnout. Perfectionistic strivings showed small negative or non-significant relationships. When the researchers isolated “pure” strivings, high standards without the anxious concerns, the negative relationship with burnout became notably larger.¹

In plain terms: it is not your standards that are burning you out. It is the fear, self-criticism and sense of never being enough that have grown up around them. Wanting a report to be excellent is not the problem. Not being able to send it until it stops feeling dangerous is.

If the standards you hold at work are only one of several things you never let yourself put down, the Quiet Audit lays out the full list in ten minutes, on one page. Start here.

Why is perfectionism worse at work?

The meta-analysis found that, in some cases, perfectionistic strivings were less helpful and perfectionistic concerns more harmful in the work domain than in sport or education.¹ When the study was published, Hill suggested one reason: in education and sport people tend to have more social support and clearly defined objectives, whereas at work excellent performance often goes unrecognised.³

That rings true for many senior women. At school there was a mark. In sport there is a score. At work, the standard keeps moving, the finish line is often invisible, and the Sunday-night rewrite earns no recognition at all, because nobody knows it happened. For someone whose perfectionism runs on fear of falling short, a job with no clear “enough” is almost designed to keep her working past the point of sense.

What is the perfectionism burnout cycle?

The research measured associations, not a cycle, so this part is a description of how the pattern tends to run rather than a finding. But it is a recognisable one. Concerns drive over-preparation. Over-preparation eats the hours that should have gone to recovery. Exhaustion makes mistakes a little more likely. The fear of mistakes rises, and with it the over-preparation. Each lap makes the next one harder to stop.

There is also a wider current pulling in the same direction. In a separate meta-analysis, Curran and Hill found that among college students in the US, Canada and Britain, perfectionism rose between 1989 and 2016, and the largest rise, 33%, was in socially prescribed perfectionism: the sense that other people expect you to be perfect.² That sample was younger than most readers of this journal, but many of those students are now your colleagues and your children, and the expectations have not stayed at the university gates.

If the voice at 11:40 on a Sunday is harsh and constant, the specific habit of self-criticism has its own piece: self-criticism is a habit, not a fact.

How to stop being a perfectionist before it burns you out

Keep the standards. Reduce the fear. The most practical way to do that is to decide, in advance, what “done” looks like, so the decision is not left to the anxious part of you at 11:40 on a Sunday. When the research was published, Hill’s own advice was to set realistic goals, treat failure as a chance to learn, and forgive yourself when you fall short.³

The practice is an 85% line. Pick one recurring task this week: the Monday report, the weekly update, the slide deck. Before you start, write down in one sentence what “good enough to send” means for this piece of work. “Accurate figures, a clear recommendation, no typos in the summary.” When you reach that line, you send it, whether or not it feels finished. The feeling will lag behind for a while. That is expected, and it is not information about the quality of the work.

Most women who try this find the thing they dreaded, that someone would notice the missing 15%, simply does not happen. After a few weeks, the Sunday evenings start coming back.

It can help to tell one trusted colleague what you are doing. You are not asking permission. You want a witness. “I’m trying something: I send it when it meets the brief, not when it feels perfect. Tell me if you ever spot the difference.” In most cases they never will, and hearing that from someone whose judgement you respect does more to quiet the anxious half than any amount of reassurance you give yourself.

If the perfectionism is part of a bigger pattern of doing everyone’s share as well as your own, that pattern has its own piece: “I’ve got it,” the two words that quietly cost the most.

Questions women actually ask about this

Can perfectionism cause burnout?

The anxious side of it is strongly associated with burnout. A meta-analysis of 43 studies found perfectionistic concerns, such as fear of mistakes and harsh self-judgement, had medium-to-large links with burnout, while high standards on their own did not.¹ The studies show association, not proof of cause.

What is the perfectionism burnout cycle?

It describes how fear of mistakes drives over-preparation, which eats recovery time, which raises exhaustion, which makes mistakes and fear more likely, which drives more over-preparation. It is a useful description of how the pattern tends to run, though research has measured the links rather than the cycle itself.

Are high standards bad for you?

Not on their own. In the meta-analysis, perfectionistic strivings, setting and pursuing high standards, had small negative or no links with burnout, and high standards without the anxious concerns looked slightly protective.¹ The problem is the fear and self-criticism that can grow around them.

Why is perfectionism worse at work than at school?

The meta-analysis found perfectionistic concerns were, in some cases, more harmful at work.¹ The lead researcher suggested that school and sport offer clearer objectives and more support, while excellent work often goes unrecognised,³ which leaves perfectionists without a clear signal that they have done enough.

How do I stop being a perfectionist at work?

Keep your standards and target the fear. Decide in advance what “good enough to send” means for one recurring task, and send it when you reach that line. Over time, notice that the consequences you feared rarely arrive. That evidence does more than any pep talk.

If the perfectionism has carried you into a tiredness that nobody around you can see, our burnout guide sets out the full pattern: everyone keeps telling you how well you’re handling this.

On the research. Both meta-analyses pool correlational studies, so they show associations rather than causes. The rising-perfectionism data come from college students, not women in midlife. The perfectionism burnout cycle is a description of how the pattern tends to run, not a measured model.

References
1. Hill AP, Curran T. Multidimensional Perfectionism and Burnout: A Meta-Analysis. Personality and Social Psychology Review. 2016;20(3):269-288.
2. Curran T, Hill AP. Perfectionism Is Increasing Over Time: A Meta-Analysis of Birth Cohort Differences From 1989 to 2016. Psychological Bulletin. 2019;145(4):410-429.
3. Perfectionism linked to burnout at work, school and sports, research finds. ScienceDaily, University news release, 31 July 2015.

Written by Tomasz Nowak for Blue Leaf Journal.