Perfectionism is not an encouraging voice in our head, it's actually quite a negative and self-critical little creature that convinces us that if we're not achieving unattainable ideals or unrealistic goals, we are a failure. Among people who have this trait, their self-worth is often determined by their capacity to reach these incredibly high personal standards. This causes us to push and push until we either succeed, which is incredibly rare, or we quote unquote fail and we burn out resulting in this massive dip in our sense of self-worth. Other behaviors like procrastination and even depression and anxiety can also be correlated with perfectionists.