You don't have to stop being a perfectionist to be well.
If you've spent years being told to "find balance," "let it go," or "just relax" — and none of it ever actually worked — this book club is for you.
We're spending three Saturday mornings this October with Katherine Morgan Schafler's The Perfectionist's Guide to Losing Control, a book that does something most advice about perfectionism doesn't: it stops trying to fix you. Schafler, a psychotherapist and former on-site therapist at Google, makes the case that perfectionism isn't a flaw to manage into submission. It's a phenomenon, one with real power inside it, once you learn how to work with it instead of against it.
We'll read together, talk together, and figure out — in real time, in community — what it looks like to trade the exhausting performance of control for something steadier: real power.
The details
When: Saturdays, 10:00–11:15 AM
Dates: October 3, 17, and 31 (bi-weekly)
Cost: $10
Where: virtual
Who it's for: Women who are ready to stop apologizing for their ambition and start understanding it
Format: Each 75-minute session pairs discussion with brief nervous system regulation breaks, so you leave grounded, not wound up.
You already know how to push yourself. This book club isn't about doing that better; it's about finally understanding the woman doing the pushing, in a room full of women who get it without you having to explain yourself first.
Why do this in a group?
Perfectionism is quietly isolating. It convinces you that needing support is itself a failure, so you white-knuckle it alone, and that's exactly the pattern this book club interrupts. Processing this material alongside other women doing the same internal work does something a solitary read can't:
It normalizes what you thought was just you. Hearing another woman describe the same inner critic, the same all-or-nothing thinking, is often the first real exhale.
It builds accountability without pressure. A standing Saturday morning gives your reflection somewhere to land, instead of good intentions that quietly fade by week two.
It creates real community. Shared language and shared understanding are protective — for your nervous system and for your sense of belonging.
It turns insight into practice. Talking it through with others is what moves an idea from "that resonated" to something you actually carry into your Monday.
It gives your nervous system a chance to catch up. Perfectionism lives in the body as much as the mind, so each session includes built-in nervous system breaks — brief, guided moments to settle before we go deeper, so the conversation lands as care instead of one more thing to perform.
What you'll walk away with
By the final session, you can expect to:
Name your perfectionist profile — Classic, Intense, Parisian, Messy, or Procrastinator — and finally understand why certain strategies have worked for you and others haven't.
Tell the difference between control and power — and start noticing, in real time, when you're gripping the wheel out of fear versus choosing your effort on purpose.
Give yourself permission to want more — without the guilt, the over-explaining, or the apology tour that usually follows.
Leave with a language for your own ambition — one that lets you keep your standards and your peace, instead of treating them as opposites.
Spots are limited to keep the circle intimate. Save yours today.