Perfection is overrated. Whoever said “Practice makes perfect” missed the point. To assume you’re perfect is to assume you can’t get any better. Which is why being perfect is a dangerous thing to be.
Consider the following. If you’re batting 100% you can’t get any better. But in order to maintain that perfect batting average you have to keep doing what got you there in the first place, which is more practice. But if you’re perfect you don’t need to practice any harder.
That is the major flaw of perfection.
When you think you’ve attained perfection, it’s easier to get arrogant and stop practicing as hard. And if you’re not motivated to practice harder than you used to, you’re going to get stale. If you’re not getting better, you’re standing still. If you’re standing still, you’re getting worse.
Which is why you should never assume you’re perfect at anything.
Keep focusing on getting better instead of getting perfect. You don’t want to be perfect. What you want, is to be in a constant state of getting better.
Stop trying to be perfect and always try to get better.
What do you think?
5 comments
1 Jeff Chasin Mar 3, 2010 at 7:15 am
Right on.
“Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life, and it is the main obstacle between you and a shitty first draft.
So go ahead and make big scrawls and mistakes. Use up lots of paper. Perfectionism is a mean, frozen form of idealism, while messes are the artist’s true friend. What people somehow (inadvertently, I’m sure) forgot to mention when we were children was that we need to make messes in order to find out who we are and why we are here - and, by extension, what we’re supposed to be writing.”
- Anne Lamott
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
2 Janko Mar 3, 2010 at 12:55 pm
I’m with you here. One can only thinks one achieved perfection, while in this ever-changing world perfection is more of an abstract concept, or should I say: it doesn’t exist.
3 Marc Mar 3, 2010 at 1:14 pm
Why would anyone assume perfection?
Maybe at one point it seems less obvious to find way to better yourself. Maybe one should allow himself to think he’s right for a moment in order to find its flaws and new ways to get better.
Anyhow I couldn’t agree more about perfection but sometimes being right (or think you are) allows you to take a step back and enjoy things for a while. ;)
4 Andrew Mar 6, 2010 at 8:42 pm
I know what you mean! Now that I’m a print designer I’m doing web work for fun just to keep up my skills with code. Its easy to get stagnent, we should always try to challenge ourselves unless we plan on fading into the background.
5 Tim Robb May 8, 2010 at 11:17 pm
Precisely.
I keep preaching this to my colleagues and they still don’t get it.
“If one achieves perfection, they have merely achieved foolish arrogance.”
Exactly why I don’t rate anything 10/10, or 5/5. Especially on my iTunes music :P
I’d like to point out that we have the same last names. This is very creepy.
~Tim Robb