10 Things You Don’t Realize You’re Doing Because You’re Insanely Hard On Yourself

1. Putting off finishing projects.

No matter how hard you work on something, it just never feels good enough. You always see a million opportunities for improvement, a million little tweaks that could be made, a million ways in which it could be better. And so you put off finishing it, over and over again – but it’s not because you’re lazy or you’re procrastinating. It’s because you’re just not meeting your own standards and you don’t want to share your work until it’s, well, perfect.

2. Taking on way too much work.

On the flip side, you’re known for biting off a bit more than you can chew in both your personal and your professional life. You want to challenge yourself to grow and the only way to do that is by throwing yourself into sink-or-swim situations – no matter how stressful they can be.

3. Deflecting compliments.

You genuinely appreciate it when someone goes out of their way to say something nice to you. But you don’t always feel comfortable accepting the compliment because you know that you’re only 50% of the way to where you want to be.

You’ll accept the compliment when you get there, okay?

4. Staying out of the dating game.

If people think your standards for a romantic partner are high, they should see the standards you set for yourself. The truth is, you don’t feel comfortable dating until you’re 100% sure that you’re bringing the full package to the table yourself. And you always see opportunities to improve yourself… which means you’re totally going to get back into the dating game… you know… once you’re perfect in literally every way.

5. Putting on a brave face through tough situations.

So many people have been through so much worse than you have – and if they’ve kept it together, so can you. You’d rather be caught dead than caught showing weakness or vulnerability. You won’t allow your emotions to get the best of you, even in the situations where they probably should.

6. Constantly reinventing your definition of ‘success.’

Reaching one checkpoint is cause for celebration, but it also means it’s time to re-focus and keep your eye on the next goal. You know you’ll never get ahead in life if you waste your time patting yourself on the back. As soon as one goal is accomplished, it’s onto something bigger and better.

7. Showing your loved ones ‘tough love.’

You’re not trying to criticize or belittle your friends, but you know that self-pity never got you anywhere worthwhile, and you don’t want to see your loved ones fall prey to it either. You’d rather empower people to take control of their situation than offer them empty platitudes. By showing them that you see their potential, you hope that they’ll start seeing it in themselves, too.

8. Conversely, wanting to single-handedly take care of everyone in your life.

Your friends and family members need a rock in their lives – and you want to be that rock for them. You never want to burden or impose yourself on loved ones – you want to be the one who takes care of them, which means you have to keep your shit together at all costs.

9. Having an all-or-nothing attitude towards… well, everything.

You only ever see two options – doing something right, or not doing it at all. Which means that you’re either in 200% or you’re out altogether. This attitude applies to work, relationships, hobbies, habits, self-improvement tactics… you name it.

10. Refusing to disclose your weaknesses. Ever.

Ironically, the people who are hardest on themselves are often the last ones who’ll ever admit it. You want to seem cool, collected an impenetrable – when in reality, you’re constantly measuring yourself up against a new standard or objective – and you’re never all the way to where you want to be.