the.com/perfectionism

Fear of failure wearing the costume of high standards.

means The habit of setting impossibly high standards for yourself or your work and treating anything less as unacceptable.

from Built from 'perfect' (Latin perfectus, 'thoroughly made, finished,' from per- 'completely' + facere 'to do/make') plus the suffix '-ism,' which turns a quality into a doctrine or syndrome. The word entered English usage in the 1800s, first in theology — describing the belief that moral or spiritual perfection is achievable in this life — before psychology borrowed it in the 20th century to name the more familiar, exhausting habit of never letting anything be merely finished.

origin
often rooted in childhood conditional approval
disguise
masquerades as diligence, actually just anxiety
productivity cost
linked to procrastination, not peak output
cruel irony
perfectionists finish less, redo more
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