Qualities: PERFECTION

To strive for perfection is a a good way to improve ourselves, or anything we are doing, but this may set unreasonable or impossible goals and failure to reach them may cause disappointment or failure. We must be realistic and accept that almost everything in life is imperfect. It is more important to set priorities and not to demand what cannot be given.

Men are good in one way, but bad in many.
––Aristotle

The greatest of faults is to be conscious of none.
––Thomas Carlyle

The intellect of man is forced to choose
Perfection of the life, or of the work.
––W.B Yeats, The Choice, 1933

At the center of Freud’s work lies a fundamental perception: human beings are not generally unified creatures. Our psyches are not whole, but divided into parts, and those parts are usually in conflict with one another.
––Mark Edmundson, The New York Times Magazine, April 30, 2006

Aim for success not perfection... Remember that fear always lurks behind perfectionism. Confronting your fears and allowing yourself the right to be human
can, paradoxically, make you a far happier and more productive person.
–– Dr. David Burns, Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy (4 million copies)
(See www.feelinggood.com)


The perfectionist is a useful breed, but the problems often outweigh the benefits of doing things correctly to the extreme. Such people may not be much fun to work with or for. Fortunately, machines have replaced many of their functions. Doing things correctly most of the time is good practice for airline pilots and brain surgeons, but the rest of us prefer some tolerance for our faults. We spend a lifetime excusing and perfecting them.

Weaknesses are not qualities, but managing them is a big quality because very few of us do it well. A weakness can be endearing when joined by humility, sincerity and lack of pretense. As they say, just do the best you can with what you’ve got. Don’t think of your faults as negatives to be regretted, but as opportunities for improvement that everyone has. The difference is your attitude toward them. Stay positive.

None of this denies that we should all have something about which we are passionate, a profession or hobby in which we seek to do the absolute best as a matter of pride or competition or standards. That thing, whatever it is, may help to define you and that standard of performance may spread to other things you do. Much of what we learn comes from those who have set an ideal example for us to follow. Yes, we must sometimes accept GOOD as good enough, while knowing what should be BEST. Busy people simply don’t have time to do everything well; we must all perform triage on our efforts: BEST, GOOD, and ENOUGH.