{"id":830,"date":"2022-06-27T13:20:16","date_gmt":"2022-06-27T12:20:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/?p=830"},"modified":"2022-10-19T14:09:16","modified_gmt":"2022-10-19T13:09:16","slug":"how-to-manage-academic-perfectionism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/2022\/06\/27\/how-to-manage-academic-perfectionism\/","title":{"rendered":"How to manage academic perfectionism"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Skills Centre has created a new self-access online resource which explores what academic perfectionism is, how it can negatively impact your studies and strategies for managing it at university. <\/em><\/p>\n

Do you set extremely high standards for your academic work? Are you a pro at making lists but find it hard to actually get started with an assignment? Do you feel the need to study excessively long hours?<\/p>\n

If this sounds familiar, you may be experiencing \u2018academic perfectionism\u2019.<\/p>\n

While perfectionism can be associated with positive things like high quality, attention to detail, ambition and success, perfectionists are often motivated by fear and put themselves under huge pressure to reach unattainable goals. Their best efforts may never be good enough in their eyes and they feel like they could always do better.<\/p>\n

How can perfectionism affect your studies?<\/h1>\n

Piling huge amounts of pressure on yourself can adversely affect your overall wellbeing, leading to unhappiness, increased stress and low self-esteem. It can also, ironically, make you less productive.<\/p>\n

Perhaps you have a tendency to overwork and study really long hours. You might feel there's always another book to read, leading to a never-ending search for more information.<\/p>\n

Or maybe you find yourself in a cycle of re-writing and editing, striving for the perfect, polished piece of work.<\/p>\n

You might soon find yourself overwhelmed and so exhausted that you struggle to meet your deadlines.<\/p>\n

[Perfectionism] can take a huge toll on mental health and ability to maintain a good work-life balance - I think often students don't get enough sleep and are working for ridiculous amounts of time to get an assignment perfect and are sacrificing wellbeing to do so. \u2013 Skills Co-Creator<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

How to manage perfectionism<\/h1>\n

So what can you do to manage perfectionism? Here are some tips:<\/p>\n