November

A Dive Into Perfectionism

We tell this to our students all the time because we know how damaging the drive towards perfection can be. Yet we do little to cultivate this same attitude within ourselves. Think about how many times you consciously or unconsciously compare Wyourself to another teacher. Or to a social media post. Or a Pinterest picture. Why do we do this?

One practice that can intensify our feelings of disillusionment is the concept of perfectionism and the belief that in order to be successful as a new teacher we must be doing all of the "right things" right away and not experiencing struggle, failure, or self-doubt. Nothing could be further from the truth or more damaging. When we let ourselves fall victim to the act of comparison and the thought of "nothing less than perfect," we challenge our very worth as human beings and educators.

Read more about this dysfunctional emotional tendency and why saying goodbye to perfectionism is necessary to strengthen our resilience in Onward, pages 166-168. Explore the resources below as well.