I don’t think of trying to be perfect as always trying to be better than others. To me, perfectionists put the pressure on themselves for a variety of reasons. Afraid to make a mistake, afraid of being wrong, afraid of consequences. I think perfectionism has a lot to do with fear. I’m just thinking about myself and why I worry about doing some things “perfectly” and other things not so much.
I’m not competitive, I don’t feel a need to be better than others, I just care about being good, happy, liked, loved, helping others, and my perfectionism shows itself in my fears of doing something that will bother me long term, like looking at something in my house that drives me crazy. Or, something that will hurt me financially long term. Or, God forbid, harm my health long term. Lastly, doing a good job when others count on me. I double and triple check my work. To a lesser extent, but still true, caring about what others think of me drives some of the tendency, but there is a whole bunch of stuff I don’t care about what others think.
What I learned about 20 years ago was expecting perfection is exhausting. Expecting it from others means you need to be perfect yourself, or you can just accept nobody is perfect and relax a little.