Do you work hard for your studies, but often feel that you could do even more? Do you use a lot of time to finish assignments, but are still not quite satisfied with the result?

Having ambition and setting high goals encourage you to perform well. However, if you easily regret even the smallest faults in your performance and are consumed by the idea that you could always do more, you might be dealing with perfectionism. It might seem difficult to take on assignments if you have set your target level unrealistically high and you are haunted by the possibility of failure. On the other hand, once you have started working, it is difficult to stop, as there is always some room for improvement. A perfectionist expects himself or herself to perform perfectly and often even the slightest criticism may feel crushing and is perceived to concern the entire personality. You can recognise perfectionism from the following ways of thinking:

• 'All or nothing' way of thinking, where performance is deemed either good or bad, nothing in between
• 'I should still do...', ideas of doing something more or better keep popping in mind
• more focus is given on the negative than the positive feedback, and even slight criticism feels extremely bad
• you believe that others perform excellently without any major effort or stress in everything they do and that you should also aim at this

Unreasonably high goals and demands towards yourself can easily lead to anxiety, a feeling of being worse than others or insufficiency as well as stress. If you recognise a tendency towards perfectionism in yourself, reflecting on the following issues may be beneficial:

Self-compassion

When was the last time you stopped to listen to your own thoughts and emotions? How about the messages of your body? Stopping for a moment and kindly paying attention to how you feel can help you notice what is going on in yourself and what kinds of thoughts are moving through your mind. You can try if you could regard yourself like a friend, with warmth, respect and understanding. Try if you can simply pay attention to how you are doing right now without trying to change anything. For example, you can find some useful practices on self-compassion.org website. Little by little, practising self-compassion can also help you also perceive your own imperfection more benevolently.

We do not necessarily notice our own thoughts or recognise them as nothing but thoughts until we stop to listen to ourselves. Noticing demanding thoughts that you direct at yourself (e.g. 'I should be better...') can help you distance yourself from the thoughts and also notice other points of view. For example, writing a diary can help you structure your own thoughts and related emotions.

Stopping in the moment and noticing your own emotions can help you identify your personal needs. What am I trying to accomplish with better performance? What do I need right now? What is important to me? If most focus is on the performance, meeting other people's expectations or avoiding possible future failures, it may be difficult to notice what you need right now, what is good right now or what brings joy.

Positive feedback to self

What have you already been able to complete? What has been going well today? If your best friend had performed same as you, what kind of feedback would you give to him or her?

You can consciously pay attention to your successes and give positive feedback to yourself. You can not only give positive feedback to yourself on performing successfully, but also for trying, making progress and learning. Paying attention to small steps forward is particularly important when you are prone to the 'all or nothing' way of thinking. The positive feedback that you give to yourself helps to divert attention to developing and learning. In contrast, strong self-criticism often stems from fears and feelings of shame and directs attention to the avoidance of failure.

Realistic goals

What is a good enough performance? How do you recognise a realistic goal?

Of course, the amount of work needed in studying can also be estimated based on study credits to some extent. It is also worth finding out about the actual requirements of courses or, for instance, the expectations of partners in group work; these may be more reasonable than the requirements in your mind! It might also be important to reflect on your personal priorities. Which course do I want to devote particular effort in? Where is it enough to make less effort? Are my studies and leisure time in balance? If the amount of tasks seems excessive in relation to the time available, clearly thought out prioritisation can help you reduce stress. In order to maintain your personal well-being and a good ability to study, it is not a good idea to compromise on rest and recovery, at least not for long. Planning beforehand how much time you will use on studying and when it is your time off on a daily basis usually provides a beneficial way for restricting time used on work. It might be good to set time limits for doing things if the amount of time used in finalising and improving output could actually be used for something that means even more to you.