I Am Justin (And So Can You!)

If there is one thing that I have begun to hate as almost a singular and irritating source of frustration it is perfectionism. Specifically perfectionism related to college assignments. The strive to have no errors in school related coursework is not only unrealistic when taking into account the complexity of most college level work, but it is a significant inefficiency when learning material.

A recent writeup from lifehack.org explains this idea better than anywhere I’ve found when stating,

By optimizing instead of attempting perfection, I’ve managed to maintain a grade hovering between an A and A+.

How Optimizing Works

The traditional studying approach is to learn everything perfectly and with equal force. I believe this approach will only lead to a nervous breakdown.

An optimizing approach says that learning everything perfectly is impossible. However, by investing more time on critical details and less time on unimportant ones you can get a better grade with less time invested.

And this strategy holds true for me as well. I end up studying less than my classmates but usually maintain the same grade level as the upper 10-20% of the class. By identifying the important information by outlining what will be on the test and then drilling down and learning that material, not just memorizing, is sufficient for about 95% of most courses and most exams. And 95% is a solid A.

Perfectionism has some serious psychological effects as well according to the Creative Type,

 Perfectionism is often seen as a good thing in our culture, and it’s important to note that it is not inherently bad. Perfectionists work hard and are generally high achievers. However, there is a fine line between being a high achiever and an overachiever.

Dr. Modupe Akin-Deko, senior psychologist at Buffalo State College’s counseling center, distinguished between two different types of perfectionists - adaptive and maladaptive. She said that while adaptive perfectionists take pleasure in their successes, the maladaptive perfectionists set themselves up for failure by setting impossible standards for themselves, thus lowering their self esteem when they never reach their goals.
In a recent study, the National Mental Health Association reported that 10 percent of college students and 13 percent of college women have been diagnosed with depression. A University of California at Los Angeles survey found that more than 30 percent of college freshmen report feeling overwhelmed a great deal of the time, and that 38 percent of college women report feeling frequently overwhelmed.

While many contributing factors are involved in depression among college students, perfectionism, a set of self-defeating thought and behavior patterns focused on unrealistic, unattainable goals, plays a strong part.

“The perfectionist constantly strives for the unattainable, and experiences feelings of failure, despair and even depression as a result,” said Dr. Brooke Lewis, assistant director of Counseling Services at Niagara University.