Perfectionism

One of my favorite tools I learned in life coach school was the concept of B- work. As hygienists, we like the idea of perfectionism even though we know it's impossible to achieve. We will never know if we got all the calculus off and sometimes it's hard to create the perfect treatment plan when we know the ideal treatment plan can be so subjective. Everybody has a different idea of what perfect looks like and how things should be prioritized.

Here's a simple statement that may or may not resonate with you: perfectionism is really about our fear of being judged. We want to blame our needing to be perfect on other people and their expectations, but really it's about our own judgement of ourselves. Crazy that we do this to ourselves!

Why is perfectionism a problem? One of the reasons why perfectionism is a problem is that it creates unnecessary stress on ourselves. It is a waste of energy. Learning to trust ourselves and know that we've done our best and then choosing to move on, this is a skill worth investing in. What does this look like? Maybe allowing yourself to go over your SRP patient just once vs three or four times.

When we set our standards really high, we tend to set ourselves up for anxiety as we strive for perfectionism. Perfectionists tend to tie their self-worth to their achievements vs. who they are.

When we push ourselves too hard for achievements, we can neglect our self-care and our work-life balance gets thrown off balance.

The B- concept helps us keep our energy and efforts in check all while maintaining santiy. It maintains balance and spares energy for other things, leading to a more complete and wholistic well-being. We are healthier when we choose B- over A+, we are healthier when we are ok with flaws and less than perfect work in all realms of life.

Learning to leave indecision behind takes confidence. When we practice confidence, there are only negatives when we do not practice confidence in our decisions. It feels awesome to leave the back and forth and indecision behind and move forward.