“Waiting for Perfect Means Not Starting.”

A perfectionist considers anything less than perfect to be a failure (and failure is not an option!). Make a mistake? Never! For many students the drive to be perfect results in chronic procrastination; to these students, if it can’t be perfect, it’s not even worth getting started. It creates a vicious cycle.

Here are a few ways you can help:

1. Let your child know that mistakes are expected and an important part of learning.
2. Set realistic and attainable short-term goals and break down assignments into manageable pieces to help the student get started. Best selling author Seth Godin summed it up succinctly in a 2017 blog post: Waiting for perfect means not starting.
3. Make sure your child’s assignments have parameters or a rubric. This will help your child understand reasonable expectations of the assignment.