Perfection

3/5/2007

Perfection

I’m a big fan of continuous improvement. I think we need to get better – and as we get better, we need to get better still.

So you’ll understand that I’m not a big believer in “perfectionism,” at least not in the traditional sense. If you’re perfect, you don’t need to improve yourself.

Perfectionism has taken a bad rap, I guess, due to teenage girls who get mad at themselves because they aren’t perfect – and never will be.

For those of us like me, who have a few years under the belt, perfectionism is never that big of a deal. I know I’m not going to be perfect. In fact, knowing that I’m not going to be perfect has somewhat of a liberating quality to it. (Of course, to other people, it may have a debilitating quality as well. Some people think if they can’t be perfect, they don’t want to go on with life).

So, knowing I’m never going to be perfect, I still think it’s important to become the best flawed person I can be.

Are there some things I can be perfect in? Sure there are – I can be perfectly true to my wife. I can be perfectly honest in my business dealings. There are any number of rational, important things that demand perfection – and they are areas where I can deliver perfection.

But most areas don’t demand perfection – they just demand quality and continuous improvement.

Can you deliver quality? Sure you can – you can do your best, knowing that tomorrow, your best will be better than it is today. You can deliver and demand a high level of quality – that in some cases might be bordering on a “perfect” product. You can demand quality actions from yourself, knowing that while you may not be perfect, you’re still pretty darn good.

In most things, perfection is unattainable – there are just too darn many things that can go wrong. But in almost everything, quality is an attainable goal, and should be.

Will you ever be perfect in everything? Well, that brings to mind an old story about a preacher:

A minister stood at the front of his chapel. “We are all sinners,” he cried. “None of us is perfect. If there is anyone in this congregation that is perfect, I want him or her to stand up right now!”
A man on the back row slowly came to his feet. The minister rounded on him: “You, sir – you say you are perfect?” “Not me,” the man replied. “I’m standing here as proxy for my wife’s dead first husband.”

We may never be perfect – at least in this life – but that doesn’t mean we can’t become as good as we can possibly be. We shouldn’t become like the teenage girl, hating ourselves because we aren’t perfect. We should always consider ourselves as a “work in progress” – and the important word here is “progress.”

Copyright, 2006, by Daryl R. Gibson and Salesstar.com. All rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted for the non-commercial redistribution of this document as long as it remains intact with this copyright and all other lines. This license does not extend to the use of this material in a compilation, whether for profit or non-profit use. Join us at http://www.salesstar.com.

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Copyright, 2006, by Daryl R. Gibson and Salesstar.com. All rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted for the use of this document as long as it retains this copyright and all lines and images remain intact. This does not allow the compilation and marketing of this material, whether for commercial or non-commercial use. Join us at http://www.salesstar.com.