It's never going to be perfect is it?

I've been watching as much of the Olympics as possible, which is tough since I only have two eyes, a job and a sleep routine that refuses to let me stay up late. Over this past week, I've told my wife at least 37 times: "Do you have any idea how fast/strong/difficult that is?!" To which she calmly replies: "But it's their job".

She's right, most of them are professional athletes. They eat, sleep, and live their respective sports. But still, they are people - capable of doing incredible things. I find that absolutely inspiring (as you probably can tell).

But while these athletes are mind-blowingly brilliant, I have yet to see any of them do what they do perfectly. The skateboarders, cyclists and gymnasts fall, the shooters and archers don't always hit the bull, the swimmers go out too fast or leave it too late, and the hockey players and volleyballers hit bad shots or miscommunicate. And yet, they keep going. It's almost like they expect these things to happen. They don't practice or plan to make mistakes, but they have done what they do for long enough to know that it is part of the package. They strive for perfection while knowing that it will never be attained.

One reason why they have become so good at what they do is that they have learned that failure doesn't kill you. Even if it happens on the world's biggest stage. They just get up, refocus and go again.

I think we can learn something from them.

Don't wait for the perfect circumstances, plan, weather or idea. Start, learn, fail, adapt, get better. That's the process!