Where can I find workbooks or courses to work on perfectionism?

March 13, 2018 3:41 PM

I have perfectionistic/grandiose traits that can keep me from doing simple tasks ("I'll probably burn the omelette, maybe I'll just have toast") as well as complex ones ("this idea for a blog post is cool! But you know what would be cooler, if I could get a PhD in it and then hire someone to create an app! No, wait, I can never do that, I guess I'll forget about it.") Are there workbooks or courses that might help me work through these traits? Did you do something for this that you found helpful?

I've found a couple of books but am a lot better able to engage with active structures (i.e. therapy/workbooks/classes) than with the passive structure of reading.

I have a therapist and meditate and am decent about sleep/food/exercise.

Thanks for your help, AskMe.

posted by hungrytiger to Health & Fitness (3 answers total)

The Centre for Clinical Interventions (funded by the Western Australian Department of Health) has a series of free downloadable workbooks on Perfectionism, found here. I haven't used this set myself but I've found their other material to be thorough and sensible, even if the design is a bit twee.
posted by Cheese Monster at 4:12 PM on March 13, 2018 [2 favorites]

This book, Present Perfect is mindfulness-based and helped me out a lot. I love that he gives very specific exercises to do, though it's not a workbook.
posted by mermaidcafe at 4:22 PM on March 13, 2018 [1 favorite]

Brent Brown addresses the subject in The Gifts of Imperfection
posted by falsedmitri at 11:08 AM on March 14, 2018