How To Overcome Perfectionism When You Have ADHD

Adults with ADHD seem to be the unlikely perfectionist.  Some days our ADHD lives are swimming with imperfections and screw ups. Yet perfectionism gives us an excuse to stay stuck where we are in our lives.  What can you do about it? Here are some tips for overcoming perfectionism.

  1. Don’t forget that people will still like you even when you make mistakes or that you aren’t perfect.
  2. You can learn more by making mistakes. Instead of criticizing yourself; focus on what you are learning and how you are improving.
  3. You are worthy because you are you, and focus on your good qualities.
  4. Try not to compare yourself to others, it will make you feel worse and you don’t know what the other person (s) have gone through
  5. Don’t let procrastination block your creativity and motivation. Getting started is better than doing nothing.
  6. Enjoy your life no matter what you are going through and stop waiting until you are good enough
  7. There is not just success or failure; there is lots of space in between for what I call “partial successes.”

Look over the tips above and try to implement the easiest for you to try.  Do not worry about any of the other tips.  Rewrite the tip as a goal (i.e. My goal is to criticize myself less and see my mistakes as learning opportunities.  Then write down when and how you are going to make this change. When you make a mistake; you can ask yourself “What can you learn from this”?  The main thing is don’t except to be perfect when it comes to overcoming perfectionism.

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