Perfection is in the Eye of the Beholder

(Written by my girl, Melzie. Thanks lady. I appreciate you).

"There's a popular cliche' that asserts "good is the enemy of great". This was asserted in relation to business, but I find it applies in all facets of life.

Perfect is defined as:

Adjective
Having all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics; as good as it is possible to be.

Verb
Make (something) completely free from faults or defects, or as close to such a condition as possible.

I'd argue that "as good as it is possible to be" is rarely considered when determining what is perfect because we heavily focus on being "completely free from faults or defects". I think it's time to lighten up a bit.

Recently I found myself declaring quite a few work products as "perfect" because they met the need and met a professional level of expectation. There was a time when I would've hemmed and hawed because something wasn't written in a way I would have, but realizing what a waste of time that is has been a relief. As you know, in business there's often little time for multiple edits and interpretations given time and resources. It seems so much easier to view everything with an open mind and embrace a level of comfort in knowing that [most] people do the best they know how.

The same goes for our personal lives. It dawned on me the other day that this can also alleviate a great deal of stress outside of the 9-to-5. Why nit-pick and downplay what we're presented with when it suits a purpose just fine? Somehow we've become conditioned to expect a great deal from others and even ourselves, but the cost is high with little or no value. Certainly there are situations when we must put forth our absolute best effort, but I'm willing to bet that a quick inventory of daily activities will make it clear these times are far and few in-between.

How many times have you axed a perfectly good creation because it wasn't "perfect", only for someone to compliment your work? Or even worse, declined an opportunity and later found out how great it turned out for someone else? I've done it countless times yet when someone says there's nothing such as 'perfect' I tend to both agree and disagree. I now believe the ever-elusive concept of perfection actually resides in each of us and is based on our personal experiences, biases and knowledge more than anything else.

I'm not sure where we pick up that doing our best is never good enough, at times it really is. If we ease up pressure to put forth an effort that reflects our talent and abilities I believe someone will always see the diamond factor in it.

Ushering in a new positive mindset never hurt anyone. Drop the stress of aiming for perfection because someone will always see things differently. Going forward, let's challenge ourselves to eliminate the moving target of perfection and accept that we are more than able to create and accomplish great things in all areas of our lives.

If we put our best forward we can always challenge our ego by not allowing it to challenge us."