Perfectionism can cause failure to change behavior

Another cause of failure stems from viewing behavior change in all or nothing terms. Far too often people set extremely high goals and assume they even a single lapse erases all prior success, so they might as well quit trying.  This phenomenon, called the Abstinence Violation Effect, has been observed in a variety of contexts including dieting, alcohol or smoking cessation, and efforts to change interpersonal behaviors.  But what if we recognized that behavior change is an ongoing process, and created a plan for coping with occasional slip? 

Behavior Change Is Hard | Psychology Today