External factors can also lead students to feel a sense of self-doubt. For Burnett the external factors were pressures from her family members or people who doubted her abilities. This put her in a tough position, where she felt the need to live up to her parents expectations or prove the people who underestimated her intelligence wrong. 

 

“I hold myself to such a high standard because of the pressure from my parents and myself, but I believe this intense pressure does more harm than good at times. In high school, my dad would say things like, “That’s great that you got a 98, but where are the extra two points?,” pinpointing where I fell short. After remarks similar to those I began hyperfocusing on my potential faults instead of celebrating my wins that were more frequent than not. I’ve always received high grades and excelled in extracurriculars, but it became the norm for me and if I did anything that felt less than excellent it felt like failure,” said Burnett. 

 

This was something I could relate to. While I was growing up and being told by my elders I was not good enough and would amount to nothing led me to want to over achieve and be great at everything. However, when things didn’t turn out to be phenomenal in the way I wanted, I began to think the problem was me. As a journalism student at Stony Brook University, I constantly feel the need to overwork and perfect my articles and videos even if it means nit picking every little detail for hours straight. This then leads to the constant stress of making sure things come out flawless when more times than not the idea of perfectionism is simply out of my control.