The Perfection Trap

A ground-breaking and honest examination of the recent rise in perfectionism, which asks how we got here, how we can embrace imperfection and, ultimately, how as a society we might get out.

This book will transform how you think about success — Jake Humphrey and Damian Hughes, creators of High Performance.

Today, burnout and depression are at record levels, driven by a combination of intense workplace competition, the comparative world of social media, the quest for elite credentials, and helicopter parenting. Society continually broadcasts the need to want more, and that we have to be perfect to get it. Why is this a trap, and how can we escape it?

Gathering a wide range of contemporary evidence, acclaimed professor at the London School of Economics Thomas Curran calls for both a mindset shift and broader, societal change. He explores the paradoxical effects of perfectionism on everything from performance to social and financial inequality, and shows what we can do as individuals to resist the modern-day pressure to be perfect—and how we can create a culture that celebrates the joys of imperfection.