The Imperfect Pursuit of Perfection

How many times have you heard in your life "If you can't do it right, don't do it at all!" or some variation of that philosophy?  When I was a kid in school, I was in pursuit of the "A".  Once I started working, I was in pursuit of the next big promotion.  In my personal life, I have pursued the ideals of the perfect spouse, home, friends, etc.  I had become a perfectionist. In my mind, I was always doing it "right" because I thought I was following all of the so-called rules and advice for each one of these things.  I expected to do and find great things.

Where I got stuck was when I did everything "right", but didn't get the end result that I thought I was due.  Upon reflection, it's like life didn't get my memo that it was time for me to reap all of benefits I was expecting. Listening to all of the experts and following their advice to the letter didn't work. So I got confused.  Was it possible that I was really doing everything wrong?

When I think about it, I have a bit of an obsession with being "right" and things having to be perfect.  It's my internal gold star standard.  If it isn't perfect, then I'm a failure.  Ultimately though, the result of this extreme thinking results in a type of paralysis.  ("Because if I can't do it right, then I'm not doing it at all!")

Anything that we deem worthy of investing our time in creating is never going to be 100% perfect.  I read things I've written that I am happy with, but I can always find one more thing to tweak or modify.  The creator pursues perfection, knowing that imperfection is inevitable.  You can't stop the race even if you know you can't win.  You have to move forward, take your lumps, learn something, and then hope that next time is better.

Are you in pursuit of a goal and find yourself wanting to quit because things aren't perfect?  Don't.  And if you don't, I won't either.  Let's kick it up a notch, and be okay with being imperfect a little while longer to see what happens next.

(photo credit windy_'s)

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