Perfectionism with Lisa Van Gemert

Today Dr. Dan Peters welcomes expert Lisa Van Gemert the founder of Gifted Guru to discuss the important topic of Perfectionism. Both Dr. Dan and Lisa are recovering Perfectionists and today they define the condition (“unreasonable expectations with a lack of self-love”) and then teach us how to push through mistakes and discover a path to recovery based on managing perfectionism. The episodes opens with Lisa sharing a very personal story of her own struggle with perfectionism and how she organically came to this life-changing work.

Lisa’s new book – Perfectionism: Practical Strategies for Managing Never Good Enough – is the foundation for today’s important discussion about signs to look for in our children and students and how to manage perfectionism with several strategies.

Listeners will love Lisa’s Parent Footprint moment story at the end of the interview about her youngest son imitating her one day at home. This innocent playing led Lisa to an epiphany because she heard herself sounding like a teacher (which she was at the time) and not a parent. This life lesson shows us we sometimes don’t know how we sound to others – especially our children.

Lisa Van Gemert uses a combination of neuropsychology, pedagogy, experience, humor, technology, and sheer fun to share best practices in education with audiences around the world. She is an expert consultant to television shows including Lifetime’s “Child Genius,” and a writer of award-winning lesson plans, as well numerous published articles on social psychology and pedagogy. A former teacher, school administrator, and Youth & Education Ambassador for Mensa, she shares resources for educators and parents on her website giftedguru.com and is co-founder of the Gifted Guild, a professional community for educators of the gifted. Lisa and her husband Steve are the parents of three sons and live in Arlington, Texas.