Appendix B: Survival Guide Perfectionism Video Transcript

Video: Survival Guide Perfectionism

Text Visual
Meet Jake
like you, he’s a student
Jake is standing and smiling
Jake struggles with perfectionism Jake sighs and frowns. Thought bubbles appear with the words I should do better, don’t be late, I can’t make a mistake, and failure
Jake says But perfect is good… right? Jake smiles
No! Thumbs down
Perfectionism is awful for Jake Jake is in an office surrounded by books and a laptop
A – he constantly rewrites assessments
B – the pressure makes him procrastinate
C – everything feels like a failure
Jake is always disappointed
Nothing seems good enough
A gauge chart which shows gargantuan failure, enormous failure, huge failure, failure, and almost success. The arrow is pointing to almost success
He won’t submit assignments unless they’re “perfect” Jake sighs and frowns. Thumbs down
It’s a vicious cycle. A cycle starts with low self-esteem, setting impossible goals and then failing to meet goals
He seeks help
Jake learns about perfectionism
A – perfectionism is not the same as striving for excellence
B – Perfectionism is not the key to success
C – Perfectionism contributes to anxiety and depression
Reevaluate standards
How do other people do it?
Are they still getting acceptable results?
A stack of documents with a green tick
Challenge perfectionist thoughts
Are your underlying beliefs reasonable?
Are they useful?
A thought bubble with a green tick
Try hypothesis testing
Relax your standards a bit
Were your worst fears realised?
An open book with a green tick
Expose yourself (not like that!!)
Regularly confronting feared situations teach you that the consequences are usually ok
A stack of books with a green tick
Jake starts to practice self compassion Jake is typing on a computer doing work, smiling. A person’s hands are applauding him
Jake looks at vUWS for more info A computer screen displays the words study money & life skills
Look how happy Jake is Jake is smiling and a speech bubble shows him saying Wow
Student Services 1300 668 370
Explore more westernsydney.edu.au/counselling
A computer screen shows the Western Sydney University shield logo with Student Services and their phone number

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Academic Skills Pocketbook Copyright © 2023 by Richard Scharges; Ashleigh Watson; Linda Thornely; and Susan McGlynn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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