Perfectionism, particularly among very bright students, can be a real problem as it can cause anxiety and interfere with a student's willingness to take learning risks (fearing failure) which ultimately can interfere with their reaching their full potential.

Celebrate successes but also acknowledge mistakes. By not openly discussing mistakes, students might assume they are something that they should be embarrassed about rather than celebrated. Here is a way to discuss mistakes.

Provide clear end dates on projects. Help them understand what is "good enough".

Try to identify non-family mentors who can support them so they don't feel alone in their abilities and their anxieties.

Share stories of the mistakes and failures of successful people and family members. Stories are much more memorable than facts. So while your student might not internalize any given story, by continuously sharing observations and stories of people you know or see in the media, students will come to realize that mistakes are a very real and important part of growing. And if available, be sure to point out how these people successfully rebounded from setbacks.

Have students play the free Mindprint Game to learn about the failures of famous people in a playful way.

Discuss the reality that every person has relative strengths and weaknesses. No one is an exception! We love to remind students that no one has ever had ten strengths on the Mindprint assessment. Our brains simply don't work that way. The key is to make the most of your relative strengths and not allow any relative weaknesses to stop you from achieving your goals.

Develop metacognition, or understanding your own thinking processes. As students develop a greater awareness of how they learn, they should better understand when things come easily, when they should be harder, and make trade-offs between always shooting for perfection versus investing effort into other pursuits.

If necessary, seek professional support or guidance. No student should live with the unrealistic burden of feeling they need to be perfect.