According to the anxiety awareness organization Anxiety BC, negative self-talk perpetuates perfectionism. Learning to replace overly critical thoughts with positive, more realistic ones can be a huge step toward overcoming this tenancy. As a teacher, it might be tempting to think you can influence all of your students to focus, commit and improve in your class in order to achieve higher test scores or evaluations. You can combat this unrealistic thought by thinking things like, "I'm doing the best I can" and "I can't make students work who don't want to succeed."
The University of Texas at Austin suggests developing realistic standards by being aware of how your perfectionism affects other people. For example, as a teacher, you may be forcing your personal standards onto students, which creates an uncomfortable learning environment. You may need to take a step back and let them acquire information, practice and make mistakes. If a particular student is struggling, you might try seeing the situation from his point of view. For instance, a student who seems lazy may not be able to work as quickly as other students or may be afraid to say that he doesn't understand.
According to National Public Radio, many teachers struggle with the stress of teaching observations. Teachers at one Nashville elementary school are rated on a scale of zero to five, with even the smallest action, such as passing out papers, being factored into their evaluation. The fear of being criticized and the desire to receive a perfect evaluation can often cause teachers to lose sight of the big picture. Anxiety BC suggests asking yourself questions like what the worst outcome could be, if you could survive it and how much it will matter in the future.
Many perfectionists feel fear of making mistakes, not pleasing others or failing to meet their own standards. Anxiety BC states that as with any phobia, the best way to overcome it is to expose yourself to your fear. Gradually putting yourself in situations where you make mistakes or reveal your imperfection can actually lessen your perfectionism. For example, you might show up a few minutes late for class or a faculty meeting, wear shoes that don't match on the day of an observation or share your fear of failure with other instructors rather than try to hide it.