The perfectionism trap
As a young university lecturer two decades ago, I taught a course on 19th-century American literature. Though I loved the period, my students were less enamoured. Most would give up on “Moby-Dick” or Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Essays” after only a few pages, then sit in seminars coiled in silence, hoping that I wouldn’t call on them…
The demand for perfection may be stifling, but a perfectionist can also feel that his achievements are the only thing holding him together.
Read the rest at the Economist