A key part of GPs’ work is managing risk—but this can sometimes lead to a black and white mindset where every risk must be accounted for, regardless of the cost to time, says psychologist, executive coach and founder of The Anxiety Clinic, Dr Jodie Lowinger.

It is a type of perfectionism that’s driven by care and empathy, and underpinned by fear of doing something wrong or not being good enough, Dr Lowinger says. But it can lead to feeling overwhelmed, and to burnout—and it can sabotage time-management.

“Our brain is wired to focus in on what we feel threatened by,” Dr Lowinger explains. “So if we have a fear of not being good enough, which GPs often deal with because they have to be everything to everyone, then their brain is going to focus in on that, which can tip them into overwhelm and be very burdensome.”

“We need to move out of a fear-driven mindset into focusing on your values. It means shifting from focusing on outcome to focusing on effort, and saying to yourself: I’m going to give my best effort in the time that I’ve got available, and I’m going to be proud of myself for that effort,” she says.

“It’s sitting with the discomfort of uncertainty. Maybe you will be good enough, and maybe you won’t. It’s when we grapple with uncertainty that we trap ourselves in stress.”

Instead, Dr Lowinger says we need to learn to accept and sit with that uncomfortable uncertainty.

She sometimes advises her clients to try out being imperfect on issues that are not critical.

“From time to time, being purposefully imperfect on less critical tasks can allow you to learn that it wasn’t a catastrophe. It is an evidence-based clinical strategy to liberate yourself from the shackles of perfectionism.”