Tuesday TEAM Training Group at Stanford In 1980 I published an article entitled "The Perfectionist's Script for Self-Defeat" in Psychology Today Magazine, in an attempt to get some publicity for my (then) new book, Feeling Good. At the time, it was the cover feature and became the most popular article in the history of that magazine. Perfectionism is definitely one of the most common themes I have confronted in my clinical work and teaching over the past many decades. If you would like to take a look, you can check it out at this link. They had fantastic colorful illustrations, including a bleeding dart board wtih a dart in the bullseye, and sadly you'll only get the text in black an white at the link. It seems that almost everyone succumbs to this mindset from time to time, and it can cause many negative moods. But at the same time, the attempt to be perfect brings many benefits at the same time. This can be a dilemma. The next several podcasts will be based on a two-week perfectionism class I developed for the weekly Stanford TEAM-CBT training group that I direct along with my esteemed colleague, Dr. Jill Levitt. This podcast class is suitable for therapists and non-therapists alike. These podcasts will give you the opportunity to “attend” the group and witness the procedures we use to train therapists. You will have the opportunity to practice the same techniques the students will practice when we break into small groups. I would encourage you to turn off your podcast temporarily so you can practice the exact same techniques on your own when we break into small groups for practice. For example, in the first class you are about to hear, we will spend 20 minutes doing a Cost-Benefit Analysis for perfectionism. You will find a blank CBA if you click HERE. I would encourage you to practice the same thing for 20 minutes during each practice group. During the first breakout group, you can spend 20 minutes listing the advantages and disadvantages or perfectionism. Ask yourself, “how might this mindset help me? And how might it hurt me?” You can use this blank CBA. After listing the advantages and disadvantages, weigh them against each other on a 100-point scale, and put two numbers adding up to 100 in the two circles at the bottom. For example, if the advantages are greater, you might put 75 and 25 in the two circles. If they are about equal, you can put 50 and 50. And if the disadvantages are somewhat stronger, you might put 40 and 60 in the circles. Remember, it’s not the number of items in the columns, but how you feel about them overall. Sometimes, one powerful advantage might feel much more important than the five disadvantages, and sometimes one powerful disadvantage might feel more important than numerous advantages. Part of the fun (hopefully) of this podcast is that you’ll get to hear the questions and suggestions of many of the 45 or so students in the class that night. As you will hear, we have a multi-cultural rainbow group with therapists from around the world. We started Part 1 of the Perfectionism Master Class with these important two questions: What is perfectionism? How would you define it? What is the difference between perfectionism and the healthy pursuit of excellence? Then we went on to the Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) in small groups. I forgot to record my small group, but you will hear a long list of advantages and disadvantages discussed when the large group reconvenes. As I mentioned about, I would encourage you to do your own CBA while we are in the small group. When we reconvened in the large group, we talked about the therapeutic strategies you would use once the patient has balanced the advantages against the disadvantages of perfectionism, including Sitting with Open Hands with patients who are reluctant to give up their perfectionism. I also discussed my strategy of aiming for “average” or even “below average,” as opposed to perfection. As I’ve aged, I’ve actually lowered my standards so low