[Heal_connect]

Does anyone else struggle with this? I can't complete writing projects I find meaningful because I never know if I'm doing them the "right way" or if they're good enough...

[Solnutty]

I most certainly do. Depending on what the project is, I’ll do some things to help a bit. One thing that helps a lot is taking time to connect myself with the reality of turning in a less than perfect paper, or writing a less than perfect sentence. Being 37, I still struggle with the perfectionism bug, but it is easier to move on in spite of it because I have the perspective of years and lots of examples of times I’ve turned in papers I thought were awful but actually were quite good. And other times when I expended every ounce of my energy on a paper and all my extra work didn’t matter in the end.
Also, free writing the first draft helps me. Just write whatever comes to mind about the topic, and because it’s a freewrite, there are no wrong answers. There’s no going back to correct anything and no punctuation or spelling rules matter. I’ve heard if you practice this every morning with a page or two of whatever is on your mind, it will train you to interrupt yourself less and save editing for later.
If I can read other people’s assignments (this works in my online course) and this helps me to gauge how much effort I actually have to put in.
Giving myself a time limit on writing also helps, because I can’t spend endless time going back over it. Maybe I’ll write for an hour or less one day and then set it down without looking at it again until the next day.
It also helps me to pick some really small writing projects that don’t matter much and write some short things for fun. It gets me used to the idea that things don’t have to be perfect. I like some of those better than things I’ve spent a lot of work on.
And when things are really bad I have a friend I call and she just reminds me of good things I forget about, like it doesn’t have to be perfect, you’re a good writer, you’ve done this before. If I get stuck in the middle of a project and don’t know where to start or where to go, I remind myself that all my have to do is start reading it over, and I’ll think or where I want to go next.
If you’re a perfectionist you’re probably a very good writer because you make sure that’s the case. The tricky part is knowing when to switch gears and let yourself relax about the outcome.
Hope this is helpful in some way

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by Heal_connect

Does anyone else struggle with this? I can't complete writing projects I find meaningful because I never know if I'm doing them the "right way" or if they're good enough...

I am a perfectionist but its not a struggle for me. its how I was raised, in the native american culture I was raised with the belief that nothing is worth doing if you are not willing to put in your all, its a waste of time and effort on everyone if one isnt willing to do their best in what ever they choose to do... if you are a hunter to focus, be one with nature and do your best, if you are a student, focus and put in the effort it takes to do your best... if you are in the work place to focus on the job and do your best. as long as you do your best the outcome will always be something to be proud of even if the outcome isnt what is expected.

this cultural belief carries over into my life off the reservations too. I always strive to give my best otherwise its not worth doing.

[dlantern]

I'd say allow the perfectism bully its voice, but also stand your ground unless you have a good reason to not to. Add a few words this could be a push in the right direction don't allow the bully to win. A few supports in the right direction is the best way to get past something that is important such as school.