Blabbermouth Emmanuel Akueteh

"I'm a bit of a perfectionist"

How many times have you heard that before over a drink or at work? It's everyone's favorite flaw, isn't it? The go-to answer to the most hated interview question. "Oh, my greatest weakness, I'm a perfectionist." For something that supposedly holds us back, a lot of people seem to take pride in it. But there's an interesting point, because our begrudging admiration for perfection is so pervasive that we never really question perfectionism in it's own terms. What does it say about us and our society when there's a kind of celebration in perfection. We hold perfection up as an insignia of worth, a mark of the successful. But research shows that this couldn't be more wrong. Over the years, a mountain of good research has found links between perfectionism and many other health issues. Researchers found that while those with perfectionistic tendencies were more motivated (which is a good thing), perfectionists had strong links to higher levels of burnout, stress, workaholism, anxiety and depression.

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://akueteh.wordpress.com/2020/09/16/imperfectionism-why-perfect-is-overrated/

Why are some people so disturbingly quiet all the time? How can someone just want to be alone so often?
And those people who manage to be so quiet in gatherings, how do they do it? Are they even happy at all?  Maybe you’ve asked yourself these questions before, and I won’t judge you for it.

Introverts are the most easily misunderstood people; I guess it’s hard to imagine why a person would prefer his own company to that of others. But the severity of the situation dawned on me quite recently. For a very long time I’ve felt that people don’t understand (or don’t want to understand) introverts and the crucial roles that introverts play in our society.

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://akueteh.wordpress.com/2020/09/11/quiet-fortitude-a-case-for-the-introvert/