AIBU to want to stop being such a perfectionist

[FestiveFrollockingFrenzy]

I'm changing career so having to take another degree. Been getting good marks which I need for my chosen career path, it's extremely competitive. Got a shit mark back yesterday. It's really knocked my confidence. It seems I can't ever relax...when I get good marks I feel overwhelming pressure to keep it up and when I get bad ones, it makes me completely demotivated and feel rubbish. I'm like this with everything...not just my career. I'm fed up of it but equally I know I have to put pressure on myself to reach my dream. Someone tell me to chill out and get some perspective. Life is too short and all that. It's a marathon not a sprint. Anyone else the same :( feel like a loser because of the mark and because I'm brooding over it.

It sounds like you have good insight into it. Sometimes it's better to have a broader understanding of a topic than obsess about details. Good luck :)

The only thing I could offer is the thought that whilst I admire the seeking of perfection I also recognise that I rarely come across it which says two thing to me.

I am too picky
It doesn't exist

Either way it seems that the difference between good and perfect can be such a tiny margin that its rarely worth the time or effort to achieve it.

If you got a bad mark I'm sure you will have been told why, in which case you have the opportunity to learn or relearn what you though was right and improve. Improvement is surely a step towards perfection so paradoxically, failure can lead towards perfection.

Don't beat yourself up too much, if all this is for a career change then better to learn how to work through/round/over others imperfections than chase your own version of it.

Good luck.