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Post 35: Your Standards are Too High — Neel Nanda

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A common failure mode is to consistently set your standards for yourself too high, and to always feel guilty for falling short. I diagnose why I think this is a major problem, and outline some of my tools for overcoming this

Post 35: Your Standards are Too High Oct 1 Written By Neel Nanda Introduction I’m a perfectionist, and a pretty neurotic person, so a common experience for me is feeling dissatisfied and guilty. Some part of me is deeply convinced that everything should be easy , and fast . That if it’s not, I am failing. That I could have done better . When I do an exam, no matter how well I actually did , this part is always drawn to the marks missed and the dumb screw ups. When I'm thinking about something hard and find an inspired idea, it always feels obvious in hindsight and I kick myself for missing it.

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