Over the past 30 years, there has been a substantial increase in the percentage of people who feel they need to be perfect. The pressure we put on ourselves to be perfect and the expectations we feel from others and society-at-large can lead to depression, burnout and other mental illnesses, particularly amongst younger generations. How do we escape this perfection trap and embrace the idea of “good enough”? 

Meet our speakers and chair

Thomas Curran (@thom_curran) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science at LSE. He is a world leading expert on perfectionism. He has written for the Harvard Business Review, was featured in the New Scientist, and his work has been covered by publications including the Guardian, Telegraph, Wall Street Journal, and Ariana Huffington's 'Thrive Global' campaign. In 2018, he gave a TEDMED talk entitled 'Our Dangerous Obsession with Perfectionism is Getting Worse'. His book, The Perfection Trap, explores the recent rise of perfectionism in modern society, why it’s happening, and what it means for mental health and relationships.

Adrienne Herbert is a leading wellness professional and host of the weekly Power Hour podcast. She has partnered with brands such as Adidas, Origins, Virgin Sport, Google and Apple and has been featured in ELLE magazine and the Telegraph, as well as being named a ‘New Face of Wellness’ by British VOGUE.  

Rachel O'Neill (@DrRachelONeill) is Assistant Professor in the Department of Media and Communications at LSE. Dr O’Neill is a feminist media and cultural studies scholar specialising in gender and sexuality and author of Seduction: Men, Masculinity and Mediated Intimacy, published by Polity in 2018. Dr O’Neill currently holds a Wellcome Trust Fellowship in Humanities and Social Sciences for a project examining the emergence of ‘wellness’ as a novel cultural formation and new commercial development in the UK, one that is intimately bound up with the aspirational economies of social media.

Grace Lordan (@profgracelordan) is the author of Think Big, the Founding Director of The Inclusion Initiative at LSE, and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science at LSE.

You can pre-order the book The Perfection Trap: The Power Of Good Enough In A World That Always Wants More (UK delivery only) rom our official LSE Events independent book shop, Pages of Hackney. 

More about this event

This event is part of the LSE Festival: People and Change running from Monday 12 to Saturday 17 June 2023, with a series of events exploring how change affects people and how people effect change. Booking for all Festival events will open on Monday 15 May. 

The Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science (PBS) (@LSE_PBS) is a growing community of researchers, intellectuals, and students who investigate the human mind and behaviour in a societal context. The department conducts cutting-edge psychological and behavioural research that is both based in and applied to the real world.

Twitter hashtags for this event: #LSEFestival

Podcast and video

A podcast of this event is available to download from The Power of "Good Enough".

A video of this event is available to watch at The Power of "Good Enough".

Podcasts and videos of many LSE events can be found at the LSE Public Lectures and Events: podcasts and videos channel.