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Perfectionism & Self-Criticism

A clear picture of where your standards cost more than they give, weekly good-enough experiments, checking and time limits, fairer ways to judge your own work, and versions for students, knowledge workers, managers and parents.

Free · Mac (Apple silicon) and Windows · v1.0.0 · Other platforms

Then open the Marketplace in the app, search for Perfectionism & Self-Criticism, and click Install. It goes into your own files, and works offline from then on.

Before you start: this plan is general information to help you look after your own wellbeing. It is not medical or psychological advice and does not replace a doctor, therapist or counsellor. If you are in crisis, in danger or thinking about harming yourself, contact your local emergency number or a crisis line now.

What it installs.

1

Pillar

1

Area

50

Projects

187

Starter tasks

🧘 Mental & Emotional Wellbeing

Perfectionism & Self-Criticism

Loosening perfectionist standards and harsh self-criticism with experiments in good-enough work and kinder self-evaluation.

  1. Perfectionism questionnaire baseline
  2. Map of where your perfectionism shows up
  3. Seven-day shortfall and reaction log
  4. Costs and benefits ledger of your high standards
  5. Self-worth pie chart beyond achievement
  6. Your personal perfectionism cycle on one page
  7. Good-enough definitions for three core tasks
  8. Self-help or professional support decision
  9. One trusted ally for good-enough experiments
  10. Weekly good-enough experiment slot
  11. Time-box budget for repeat tasks
  12. One-check rule for emails and documents
  13. Evening done list
  14. Friday fair self-evaluation
  15. Mistakes and real consequences ledger
  16. Monthly standards audit
  17. Finishing rule for open-ended tasks
  18. Quarterly perfectionism re-score
  19. Reading on the clinical perfectionism model
  20. Continuum thinking in place of pass or fail
  21. Designing behavioural experiments on perfectionist beliefs
  22. Diminishing returns test on one piece of work
  23. Learning goals alongside performance goals
  24. Ugly first draft practice
  25. Riding out the urge to redo
  26. Accepting praise without discounting it
  27. Trimming polish from routine work outputs
  28. Cutting reassurance requests about your work
  29. Rigid rules rewritten as flexible guidelines
  30. Lowering one household standard on purpose
  31. Pruning commitments taken on to prove yourself
  32. Satisficing rule for everyday choices
  33. Agreeing done criteria before starting work
  34. Target ranges instead of single perfect goals
  35. Deliberately good-enough submission for a real deadline
  36. Performance review preparation without the spiral
  37. Results day plan for a grade below target
  38. Hosting a gathering with planned imperfections
  39. Six-month review and setback plan
  40. Essay and dissertation drafts shared early
  41. Group projects without doing it all yourself
  42. Shipping technical work at good-enough
  43. Delegating as a manager without redoing the work
  44. First 90 days in a new role without overworking
  45. Modelling mistakes and effort for your children
  46. Hobby time made purely for enjoyment
  47. Eight-week guided self-help programme
  48. Therapist-led cognitive behavioural therapy for perfectionism
  49. Mapping pressure from other people's expectations
  50. Standards you impose on other people

Where it starts.

Each project arrives with its purpose, milestones and first tasks written out. Here is how the first three read.

Perfectionism questionnaire baseline

Before changing anything, it helps to know which kind of perfectionism you are dealing with: high personal standards, fear of mistakes, doubts about your own actions, or a sense that other people expect flawlessness.

First tasks

  • Find a freely available version of a published perfectionism questionnaire
  • Answer every item in one sitting without revisiting earlier answers
  • Record the total, the subscales and today's date
  • Copy out the three items you rated highest

Map of where your perfectionism shows up

Most perfectionists are not perfectionist about everything: someone may rewrite a two-line email five times and leave the kitchen in chaos, or train obsessively and shrug at their spreadsheet. Mapping the domains of your life against how rigid your standards are in each shows where the work is needed and where you already know how to be relaxed, which is a resource you can borrow from.

First tasks

  • List every part of your life where you hold yourself to a standard
  • Rate each domain for how rigid your standards feel there
  • Circle the three domains that cost you the most
  • Describe how you behave in your most relaxed domain

Seven-day shortfall and reaction log

The damage done by perfectionism lives less in the standard itself and more in what happens when you miss it: the late-night redo, the third proofread, the silent verdict that you are useless. Logging every noticeable shortfall for one week, with what you did and said to yourself next, turns a vague feeling into a record of your actual reactions, which is what the later experiments are designed to change.

First tasks

  • Set up a five-column log in your notes app or a small notebook
  • Record each moment a piece of work or behaviour fell short of your standard
  • Write the exact words you said to yourself after each shortfall
  • Group the week's reactions into five types and count each

Make it yours.

Install Perfectionism & Self-Criticism, then tell Aurum the date you're aiming for. It checks whether the plan fits the weeks you actually have.

Free · Mac (Apple silicon) and Windows · v1.0.0 · Other platforms

Blueprints are general information to help you organise your own work. They are not medical, financial, legal or other professional advice. See the Terms.