By Shazad
"When you aim for perfection, you discover it's a moving target." > George Fisher
Having people in our lives that are real experts with almost perfect knowledge can literally be life-saving. We all want our Doctor to be an A+ student with a perfect reputation before prescribing some medicine to us. We also wish civil engineers to be the best in their field and be 100% certain the bridge or building they are constructing won’t suddenly fall down. These are examples of life and death situations where the very best information, education and expertise is required. Sometimes, we want nothing less than perfect.
Fortunately, we don't need this level of perfection for most of the other aspects of life such as work, relationships, business or sports. We need to be reasonably sure about what we can deliver. We'll never have complete or perfect information, so it's not worth demanding this from others either.
Rather than trying to be perfect, we have to make that leap of faith once we believe we have done all we can. This could mean we have 70% certainty about our work or that of others we rely on. This level of confidence may be enough to move forward. Yes, it is a gamble but so is most of life. We can’t be paralyzed or delayed by lack of perfect info.
Our daily decisions are full of risk, but we manage to make things work out. When something does go wrong, we can adapt and correct many of the problems. In the process, we learn valuable lessons. In short, we move the human race forward.
To make your life move in the right direction, you should demand excellence by pursuing Awesome results, but within reason. Trying to be 100% perfect delays progress and can become a stumbling block to finish. The world needs more finishers, not just starters. Being too demanding of perfection is ignoring the process of adjusting course and reworking plans.
To have something achieved, be it a personal accomplishment or of someone you rely on is what we all want. Instead, why not try the idea of "enough." No amount of effort or decision making can ever be enough if our standard is perfection. Perhaps, we can be happier and to move closer to perfection, if we work hard enough and avoid needing to be perfect.
We can make progress in our personal and professional lives using the best available facts and ideas combined with effort. Progress in the right direction, not perfection for perfection’s sake, can perfect one’s perfection…and give you Awesome results along the way!