“The perfect is the enemy of the excellent.” - Shayla Height bastardizing Voltaire
In the past few weeks, a couple of people I’ve talked to have referred to themselves as perfectionists. I’m admitting up front that I have a bias against this word, since I heard my mother utter so long ago : “Perfectionist is just another word for asshole.” I don’t have the context or reasons for why she said that, but experience has confirmed that she wasn’t entirely wrong.
I’m not sure if I quite understand the perfectionist label, or why one would choose to bestow it upon themselves. The fact of the matter is, perfection is unattainable, no matter what the endeavor. Insisting on perfection seems to be a way to simply set yourself up for failure. It just means nothing will ever be good enough. It sounds exhausting and if you’re forcing this perspective on others, it does seem like the go-to excuse to be an asshole.
To be clear, I do believe in having high standards. I think that American culture’s efforts to bolster everyone’s self-esteem and give everyone a medal has contributed to an acceptable standard of mediocrity that seems to appear everywhere - from the school achievement to customer service. Only doing enough to get by seems to be the status quo, which is disheartening at best; frustrating at worst, but that’s a post for another time.
No, I don’t believe in chasing perfection; however, I do believe in the pursuit of excellence.
Excellence is completely attainable. Excellence is about what you put forth - your supreme effort. It is showing up before everyone else and not leaving until they’ve all gone home. It’s being relentless. It’s turning in a performance you can find peace in because you’ve given everything you’ve got. Excellence doesn’t mean perfection. It doesn’t even mean success. It’s the point at which you rest because you’ve got nothing left to give. From that perspective, if you’ve truly given it your all, you can never really lose. You can feel satisfied because nothing is ever perfect. Not circumstances, not our families, not our bodies.
It’s not supposed to be.
