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The Pursuit Of Perfect: How To Stop Chasing Perfection And Start Living A Richer, Happier Life (2009)

by Tal Ben-Shahar(Favorite Author)

4 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0071608826 (ISBN13: 9780071608824)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

McGraw-Hill

review 1: Tal Ben-Shahar is one of my favourite authors on positive psychology and this book reaffirms it. According to Ben-Shahar, one of the major obstacles to becoming happier is because we aspire to a life that is perfect. There is a general assumption that truly happy people are immune from feeling sadness, fear, anxiety or setbacks in life. While positive perfectionism is adaptive and healthy, and motivates us to work hard, negative perfectionism is maladaptive and neurotic with an intense fear of failure. Ben-Shahar refer to positive perfectionism as Optimalism, and it is this aspect that we need to cultivate. The Optimalist accepts that setbacks, failures, painful emotions are part of life. This acceptance of reality allows the Optimalist to feel real satisfaction and pleasu... morere from success, derive great emotional benefit, and lead rich and fulfilling lives. What is also great about this book is that Ben-Shahar devotes some chapters on how to apply optimalism in education, work and love.Highly recommended reading.
review 2: Even if you don't think of yourself as a perfectionist, this book will probably make you do some cringing in recognition. Ben Shahar lays out a persuasive case that failure is an essential part of learning and rejecting it is a recipe for lessening both success and happiness! There's an odd section near the end where he tries to use the argument that it's good to accept certain things as fixed as a way to reject communism (?) but in general, it's both useful and interesting. less

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