Pursue excellence versus chasing perfection...
Perfection is fear. Excellence is taking a risk. Perfection is anger and frustration. Excellence is powerful. - Unknown
Few things have ruined great talents and great efforts than the misguided pursuit of perfection, instead of a rewarding quest for excellence.
To the uninitiated, someone who is new to personal development, both excellence and perfection might sound similar and often replaceable by each other, but in fact they are very different. Excellence is a pursuit of continuous improvement towards the end goal of matching the highest standards. So while one can theoretically say that excellence is the journey, perfection is the destination, albeit an unrealistic one.
Remember the story where a father finds his little daughter crying about the arrangement of pencils. She wanted them in a “perfect order”. The father chides her saying that her unrealistic expectations would set her up for disappointment in life because there is only one way that would make her happy, but every other way (literally thousands) would make her feel unhappy.
Now, before you think about giving up, the father didn’t ask her to throw the pencils on the floor, just to arrange them as well as she could (excellence), and not to brood about the perfect arrangement.
Perfection is a myth and somewhat misunderstood concept, and an obsession with the “perfect” score has ruined many. Do you remember your self-critical, hyper-competitive schoolmate who cried his eyes out because he got 95%, while he thought he deserved 100%...! This approach is not just unreasonable and impractical, it is heartbreakingly foolish too. Talk about limiting belief system.
Similarly, there are corporate bosses obsessed with achieving the “perfect” (read impossible) targets and set themselves and their teams for failure e.g. 0% attrition for the quarter or 100% market domination in the next year. They need to get a reality check in the first case and a psychological check in the latter.
A reasonably good leader is not so much obsessed with the quarterly target as he is with doing the right thing and setting up “excellent” practices (repeat “excellent” not perfect). He knows that good numbers would be the outcome of this system. Again, the outcome is “good” numbers not the perfect score.
Excellence is, human, reasonable and inspiring. Getting 10% more market share next year is a reasonable goal, reducing attrition by 5% sounds practical and the teams would aspire to get there instead of being scared out of their wits with an impossible target. A student who studies hard and celebrates 88% would be much more motivated for the next exam vs. the one who scored 98% and is on anti-depressants.
Excellence is a way of life. Continuous improvement, learning and mastering your craft, doing better than the last time, and enjoying the journey as the reward is the way to go. Far more attainable, and far more human.
I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence I can reach for; perfection is God’s business. - Michael J. Fox