Which are you? Perfect or Excellent

Which would you rather be? Excellent or Perfect?

In sports, we often hear of teams attempting and achieving a perfect game or, even more rarely, a perfect season. The 1972 Miami Dolphins pulled off a perfect season in American football by never losing a game, including the Super Bowl. The New England Patriots came close when they won every game except the Super Bowl. In bowling, a 300 is a perfect game as you knock down every pin in every frame. ?Major League Baseball has seen only 23 perfect games, a complete game where no runners advance to a base, and there are no errors, in its history, with the first one recorded in 1880.

Perfect has a nice emotive feeling, doesn't it? Nothing went wrong; everything was exactly as it was supposed to be. It's the pinnacle of perfection. Or is it?

I would take excellent over perfect every single time. Let me explain why.

First, we need to define the two terms. According to Webster.com, perfect is defined as: "having all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics; as good as it is possible to be." Excellent is defined as "extremely good; outstanding."

They seem pretty similar, don't they? You could either word, and there wouldn't be an issue. We know in our minds that there is a clear separation between two terms but tend to use vaguely defined terms which makes it hard to discern between them. To help us out, I often use an extreme example to illustrate the point. So let's imagine a scenario.

Imagine for a minute that you have a Ph.D. in mathematics and are recognized as one of the prominent teachers in the subject. You are placed in a kindergarten class and asked to follow the teacher's instructions for counting to ten. Would you be perfect with the assignment? Absolutely! Would you be excellent? Nope! Why is there a difference?

The issue lies in the fact that perfection has a known stopping point. You can't get any better than perfect. It literally means that nothing has gone wrong and that you can do nothing to improve it. If you won every game in the season, it doesn't get any better than that. Knock down every pin in a bowling game; it's over. There are no more pins. You can repeat it, but you can't improve it.

On the other hand, being excellent is a continuous journey, rather than a known end. There is always room for improvement in excellence. There is the potential to perform even better.

In his book "Moving past perfect", P.h.D Thomas Greenspoon states, "Perfectionism is about believing that if we can just do something perfectly, other people will love and accept us—and if we can’t, we’ll never be good enough. That belief is a burden that can negatively affect all areas of a person’s life."

The measurement of being perfect is an external and often arbitrary tool used by others to gauge your internal effort. Excellence is an internal tool measured by you to determine your success.

If you want to get more out of life and have peace, I would highly advocate for defining and measuring your level of being excellent vs. attempting to be perfect. I have found in my own life, and in the lives of others I have coached, that there is greater clarity around their goals and the amount of effort required.

But if you don't aim to be perfect, will you make mistakes in life? Certainly! Mistakes are growth opportunities if handled correctly. It's the chance to review what assumptions were made, make adjustments and do better the next time! Instead of running away and hiding every time you make a mistake, being excellent means that this is a golden opportunity to learn and improve. Being excellent is an evolution, so embrace mistakes as part of the process. This will relieve the stress you feel from having to be perfect. We don't want to make mistakes intentionally, but they won't be as big of a shock when they occur if you have the right mindset.

So go out today and be excellent. Review, measure and improve your performance daily. You will find that your life will improve tremendously with that type of attitude.

Do you think this article was helpful to you? Is there a way to make it better? As mentioned above, I strive to be excellent and gladly welcome feedback! Send me a note with your thoughts. Thank you!