Would you say that you are always in control or out of control? That you either get along with people very well or not at all? If so, then you may be a perfectionist. And according to the Times, you may also be something close to nuts:
The more strongly participants in the study thought in this either-or fashion, the more likely they were to display the kind of extreme perfectionism that can lead to mental health problems. In short, these are people who not only swallow many of the maxims for success but take them as absolutes. At some level they know that it's possible to succeed after falling short (build on your mistakes: another boilerplate rule). The trouble is that falling short still reeks of mediocrity; for them, to say otherwise is to spin the result. Never accept second best. Always be true to yourself. The burden of perfectionist expectations is all too familiar to anyone who has struggled to kick a bad habit. Break down just once - have one smoke, one single drink - and at best it's a 'slip.' At worst it's a relapse, and more often it's a fall off the wagon: failure. And if you've already fallen, well, may as well pour yourself two or three more.
This is controversial (yet interesting) stuff. As for me, I'm going to conduct an experiment outlined in the article: purposefully slacking off!