The other day, I was looking up physician profiles in Boston and had a mini-crisis when I realized that many of them practice medicine, work as professors, write books, run labs, have non-profits, bear awards, and of course, on top of it all, have families. However, I quickly remembered that this is not representative of most physicians in general, nor is it necessary in order to be "successful." I feel like over time, humans have grown more and more ambitious and perfectionistic, increasing competition and ultimately our societal standards in regards to everything. The "successful" individual not only "has it all," but they perfectly balance it all too. However, while perfectionism can be motivating, it is definitely damaging to our self-esteem and relationship with work. On today's episode, I am talking about how to mediate the perfectionist within, from reflecting on your progress and accepting mistakes, to setting deadlines and deconstructing the reason for why you have perfectionist tendencies.