For those who think they need to beat themselves up, be harsh and critical in order to motivate themselves to do well, here is a study that found the opposite. People who practiced self-compassion were more motivated to improve performance and learn from mistakes than those who responded to difficulty with self-criticism.
Here’s how it works. You have a big and important thing coming up… maybe it’s a project due at work, maybe an event you’re hosting, whatever. So you worry, you stress, you over-prepare, you criticize yourself for not working hard enough and not being good enough. And then…you succeed, usually knock it out of the […]
As I return to work after four days off, I find myself facing a mountain of work and feeling the familiar pull to work nonstop, skip breaks, and hold myself to impossibly high standards. It’s good to remind myself that perfectionism is the enemy of productivity, that slooooowing doooown and taking time for me actually […]