Believe in yourself. Don’t take no for an answer. Never quit. Don’t accept second best. These are all wise words of wisdom, unless you adopt them across all aspects of your life. This is the take home message of a story written by Benedict Carey in today's NYTimes wherein he explores how "perfectionism is a valuable lens through which to understand a variety of seemingly unrelated mental difficulties, from depression to compulsive behavior to addiction."

"Several recent studies stand as a warning against taking the platitudes of achievement too seriously. The new research focuses on a familiar type, perfectionists, who panic or blow a fuse when things don’t turn out just so....'It’s natural for people to want to be perfect in a few things, say in their job — being a good editor or surgeon depends on not making mistakes,' said Gordon L. Flett, a psychology professor at York University and an author of many of the studies. “It’s when it generalizes to other areas of life, home life, appearance, hobbies, that you begin to see real problems.”

He concludes..."The British have a saying that encourages people to show their skills while mocking the universal fear of failure: Do your worst. If you can’t tolerate your worst, at least once in a while, how true to yourself can you be?"