The Complete Perfectionist

Available for the first time in English, this ideal guide to doing better than your best at anything, written by a Nobel Prize winner, contains lessons in the form of aphorisms that will delight anyone with a desire to reach beyond quality, even beyond excellence.

An unforgettable portrait of France’s legendary chef, and the sophisticated, unforgiving world of French gastronomy Bernard Loiseau was one of only twenty-five French chefs to hold Europe’s highest culinary award, three stars in the Michelin Red Guide, and only the second chef to be personally awarded the Legion of Honor by a head of state. Despite such triumphs, he shocked the culinary world by taking his own life in February 2003. TheGaultMillau guidebook had recently dropped its ratings of Loiseau’s restaurant, and rumors swirled that he was on the verge of losing a Michelin star (a prediction that proved to be inaccurate). Journalist Rudolph Chelminski, who befriended Loiseau three decades ago and followed his rise to the pinnacle of French restaurateurs, now gives us a rare tour of this hallowed culinary realm. The Perfectionist is the story of a daydreaming teenager who worked his way up from complete obscurity to owning three famous restaurants in Paris and rebuilding La Côte d’Or, transforming a century-old inn and restaurant that had lost all of its Michelin stars into a luxurious destination restaurant and hotel. He started a line of culinary products with his name on them, appeared regularly on television and in the press, and had a beautiful, intelligent wife and three young children he adored—Bernard Loiseau seemed to have it all. An unvarnished glimpse inside an echelon filled with competition, culture wars, and impossibly high standards, The Perfectionist vividly depicts a man whose energy and enthusiasm won the hearts of staff and clientele, while self-doubt and cut-throat critics took their toll.

It's only natural to want to avoid making mistakes, but imperfection is a part of being human. And while perfectionists are often praised for their abilities, being constantly anxious about details can hold you back and keep you from reaching your full potential. In this fully revised and updated second edition of When Perfect Isn't Good Enough, you'll discover the root cause of your perfectionism, explore the impact of perfectionism on your life, and find new, proven-effective coping skills to help you overcome your anxiety about making mistakes. This guide also includes tips for dealing with other perfectionists and discussions about how perfectionism is linked to worry, depression, anger, social anxiety, and body image. As you complete the exercises in this book, you'll find it easier and easier to keep worries at bay and enjoy life — imperfections and all. This book has been awarded The Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies Self-Help Seal of Merit — an award bestowed on outstanding self-help books that are consistent with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) principles and that incorporate scientifically tested strategies for overcoming mental health difficulties. Used alone or in conjunction with therapy, our books offer powerful tools readers can use to jump-start changes in their lives.

This practical guide to overcoming the dangers of being a perfectionist--from debilitating feelings of self-doubt to difficulties with other people--shows readers how their perfectionist tendencies can actually help them succeed.

The complete set of self-help guides from the popular Overcoming series. Each guide is based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), an evidence-based therapy which is recommended by the NHS for the treatment of a large number of psychological difficulties. Each guide comprises a step-by-step self-help programme based on CBT and contains: -Useful information about the disorder -Practical strategies and techniques based on CBT -Advice on how to keep recovery going -Further resources The Complete Overcoming Series contains 31 titles: Overcoming Anger and Irritability Overcoming Anorexia Nervosa Overcoming Anxiety Overcoming Body Image Problems including Body Dysmorphic Disorder Overcoming Bulimia Nervosa and Binge-Eating Overcoming Childhood Trauma Overcoming Chronic Fatigue Overcoming Chronic Pain Overcoming Compulsive Gambling Overcoming Depersonalization & Feelings of Unreality Overcoming Depression Overcoming Grief Overcoming Health Anxiety Overcoming Insomnia and Sleep Problems Overcoming Low Self-Esteem Overcoming Mood Swings Overcoming Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Overcoming Panic and Agoraphobia Overcoming Paranoid and Suspicious Thoughts Overcoming Perfectionism Overcoming Problem Drinking Overcoming Relationship Problems Overcoming Sexual Problems Overcoming Social Anxiety and Shyness Overcoming Stress Overcoming Traumatic Stress Overcoming Weight Problems Overcoming Worry Overcoming Your Child's Fears & Worries Overcoming Your Child's Shyness and Social Anxiety Overcoming You Smoking Habit

Like the Martha of Jesus' day, so many women are preoccupied with being the perfect hostess, wife, mother, worker that it leaves many of them angry, frenzied, and depressed. In Martha to the Max, Debi Stack uses humor to bring great relief and encouragement to today's Marthas. This entertaining adventure will help readers view and use their abilities in a way that brings a smile to the face of God. Debi gives plenty of practical tips on slowing down and focusing on the 'one thing' Jesus said is needed.

“Another gem from one of the world’s justly celebrated historians specializing in unusual and always fascinating subjects and people.” — Booklist (starred review) The revered New York Times bestselling author traces the development of technology from the Industrial Age to the Digital Age to explore the single component crucial to advancement—precision—in a superb history that is both an homage and a warning for our future. The rise of manufacturing could not have happened without an attention to precision. At the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in eighteenth-century England, standards of measurement were established, giving way to the development of machine tools—machines that make machines. Eventually, the application of precision tools and methods resulted in the creation and mass production of items from guns and glass to mirrors, lenses, and cameras—and eventually gave way to further breakthroughs, including gene splicing, microchips, and the Hadron Collider. Simon Winchester takes us back to origins of the Industrial Age, to England where he introduces the scientific minds that helped usher in modern production: John Wilkinson, Henry Maudslay, Joseph Bramah, Jesse Ramsden, and Joseph Whitworth. It was Thomas Jefferson who later exported their discoveries to the fledgling United States, setting the nation on its course to become a manufacturing titan. Winchester moves forward through time, to today’s cutting-edge developments occurring around the world, from America to Western Europe to Asia. As he introduces the minds and methods that have changed the modern world, Winchester explores fundamental questions. Why is precision important? What are the different tools we use to measure it? Who has invented and perfected it? Has the pursuit of the ultra-precise in so many facets of human life blinded us to other things of equal value, such as an appreciation for the age-old traditions of craftsmanship, art, and high culture? Are we missing something that reflects the world as it is, rather than the world as we think we would wish it to be? And can the precise and the natural co-exist in society?

Eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge and disordered eating, affect a significant proportion of the general population. They can cause untold suffering to those with the disorder, and those around them, who find themselves at a loss how to help their loved one. For the first time, this unique bundle combines hope and inspiration to those experiencing eating disorders either first-hand or up close. Includes: self-help programmes for the eating disorders and the inspirational diary of recovery written by an ex-sufferer of Anorexia Nervosa, now a Youth Ambassador for Beat, the Eating Disorders association. Includes the following: Overcoming Anorexia Overcoming Bulimia Nervosa & Binge-Eating Overcoming Perfectionism Overcoming Low Self-Esteem Mealtimes & Milestones

“Reading Scratched gave me the feeling of standing very close to a blazing fire. It is that brilliant, that intense, and one of the finest explorations I know of what it means to be a woman and an artist.”—Sigrid Nunez, author of The Friend and Winner of the National Book Award for Fiction In this bold and brilliant memoir, the acclaimed author of the novel Museum Pieces and the collection Mendocino Fire explores the ferocious desire for perfection which has shaped her writing life as well as her rich, dramatic, and constantly surprising personal life. In the decade between age twenty-seven and thirty-seven, Elizabeth Tallent published five literary books with Knopf, her short stories appeared in The New Yorker, and she secured a coveted teaching job at Stanford University. But this extraordinary start to her career was followed by twenty-two years of silence. She wrote —or rather published— nothing at all. Why? Scratched is the remarkable response to that question. Elizabeth’s story begins in a hospital in mid-1950s suburban Washington, D.C., when her mother refuses to hold her newborn daughter, shocking behavior that baffles the nurses. Imagining her mother’s perfectionist ideal at this critical moment, Elizabeth moves back and forth in time, juxtaposing moments in the past with the present in this innovative and spellbinding narrative. She traces her journey from her early years in which she perceived herself as “the child whose flaws let disaster into an otherwise perfect family,” to her adulthood, when perfectionism came to affect everything. As she toggles between teaching at Stanford in Palo Alto and the Mendocino coast where she lives, raises her son Gabriel, and pursues an important psychoanalysis, Elizabeth grapples with the ferocious desire for perfection which has shaped her personal life and writing life. Eventually, she finds love and acceptance in the most unlikely place, and finally accepts an “as is” relationship with herself and others. Her final triumph is the writing of this extraordinary memoir, filled with wit, humor, and heart—a brave book that repeatedly searches for the emotional truth beneath the conventional surface of existence.

From an early age, kids are taught to color inside the lines, and any color that strays outside the lines is considered to be a mistake that must be avoided. Perfectionism is a naturally limiting mindset. Imperfectionism, however, frees us to live outside the lines, where possibilities are infinite, mistakes are allowed, and self-judgment is minimal.The old way to approach perfectionism was to inspire people to "let go" of their need for perfection and hope they could do it. The new way is to show people how simple but highly strategic "mini actions" can empower them to gradually and effortlessly "let go" of perfectionism. This book applies the science of behavior modification directly to the roots of perfectionism, resulting in a new and superior method for change. Imperfectionists aren't so ironic as to have perfect lives: they're just happier, healthier, and more productive at doing what matters.