Perfection is different than excellence!

Do you remember the famous proverb taught in school? “practice makes a man perfect” - based on this sentence, it is implied that you do something repeatedly, something which already exists, in order to recreate the original product in mind. For example, you want to learn how to bake a chocolate cake at home - you follow the prescribed method in order to make it perfect in taste, texture, look etc. Perfection is measured by using different parameters.

Excellence, on the other hand, is measured over a period of time and usually pertains to an activity like a sport, for example. You can't excel in something just for a day and then fall back successfully. Here is the key difference: excellence can include imperfection, but perfection cannot.

A good definition of excellence is that what it describes has so few flaws that it is very nearly perfect. Something perfect has no flaws. It's up to you to decide if this answer is perfect or excellent. Perfect can be defined as having all the necessary or typical characteristics required for a given situation whereas excellence can be defined as a feature or respect in which somebody or something is superior and outstanding.

I remember watching on TV the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, a tiny girl called Nadia Com?neci was the first female gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10 in an Olympic gymnastic event. Perfection is reaching the highest possible level of achievement. Excellence is reaching a high level but with room for improvement. Perfection usually has a lower marginal value than excellence. Depending on a context aspiring to achieve 100% instead of 99% of a goal is not always worthwhile and can be counterproductive.

Striving for perfection is a lofty although likely unattainable goal as it's purely subjective. Striving for excellence is something each one of us should do in everything we do, and in doing so will be rewarded appropriately. The difference between the two is like that between love and obsession. One is a passionate pursuit and another - an unhealthy persistence.

Of course you can pursue excellence by constantly trying to be better at what you do or you must understand that nothing we do is perfect, it will always be improved upon at some point, so to pursue an unattainable goal, like perfection, is of less importance than pursuing excellence. I am a firm believer in being able to do anything you want if you set your mind to it. It might be some crazy dream, but if you lose your sleep and you work hard enough at it, it is yours.

With a perfect mindset, you become unstoppable. You work when no one else is, your emotional intelligence helps the people around you, you get what you want out of life. Most importantly, you are happy. I truly think you can achieve this mindset as well. By changing around a couple of simple ways that you think about things you can conquer whatever you set your mind to perfection because there is nothing more than having reached excellence, cheers!