#PositiveVibes - Perfction

By John R. Nocero & Sandy Abell

John: Here is a full confession. I don’t believe perfection exists at all. I have a theory. I can do something perfectly or I can do something that is good enough. Things that fall into the perfect category – writing a policy, procedure or guideline; anything financial, such as paying my bills in a timely manner; or anything that will have repercussions in either my professional, emotional or financial health. Anything in those areas has to be perfect. I take my time. I sincerely focus, I slow down and I do it right.

On the opposite end of that spectrum are things that are good enough, which means they are done, but I don’t do them with the same level of enthusiasm or diligence. Things that fall into this category include, giving the dog a bath or my diet (I am always going to eat chicken wings and chocolate chip cookies and no one is going to tell me otherwise, I’m a grown man). For these, I use the Pareto principle – 20% of my actions will bring 80% of my results.

 So, unless the dog is getting fleas, his scrubbing schedule is working. The reason I have accepted this now is because I am a human and I will make mistakes. I know, right? We all know this, but I used to have a difficult time about not just doing things right, but doing them perfectly. And if I made a mistake, it would crush me for the week, or longer. I continuously replaced the tape in my head over and over and wondered how I could be so stupid. Now, I let it go. Now, this doesn’t mean that I don’t care, but I certainly don’t want to wreck my health or worse, over something that if I just slowed down, I could likely catch it.

So that’s what I did and it has seemed to work. If I am doing my best, and I am, then I don’t worry about if I have forgotten word. Sorry, I meant a word. I just put it out there and fix it the next time.

Sandy, do you panic when you put work out there? If so, do you panic when you do? And have you ever made a mistake that did not derail you like you thought it would?

Sandy: Hey John. This is a good topic, and one that is an issue for many people. Fortunately (I think), I’ve not had the problem of worrying about being perfect. I believe I’m the perfect me, and nobody else can be that.

I do agree that there are things that are more important than others. Usually because they involve somebody’s health, safety or finances. These things get more of my attention and I do them the best I can. Whether that is “perfect” or not is debatable. They get done and it seems to work.

In my world I don’t strive for perfection, because that would drive me crazy, and I’m not even sure what perfection is. I do the best I can with the knowledge and skills I have at the time. Hopefully most of the time it works out.

However, if I spent all my time looking for perfection, I would stress too much and make myself sick.

So, to answer your question John, no, I do not panic very often. I realize I am human and humans sometimes make mistakes. I follow the saying, Be Gentle with Yourself. As long as I correct mistakes and learn from them, it’s actually a good lesson. One I wouldn’t have learned if I’d been perfect.