The last few years this mantra has come to be a signature one in my working with individuals and teams. Many of us are groomed to achieve perfection, and many of us have made good lives for ourselves striving for this illusion. The illusion is fine, I suppose, if you can do so productively. What I see though, is that most do not chase this illusion too productively. Or maybe a better way of saying it is that most could be more productive if the toxic energy of self-condemnation resulting from a lack of perfection, were converted to the energy of self-encouragement, compassion and persistence resulting from a spirit of responsiveness.
I see responsiveness as a good alternative to perfection for a few reasons:
1) Its Achievable as responsiveness to ever changing requirements, environments and situations is achievable whereas perfection is not and especially given its subjective nature.
2) Its Adaptive as responsiveness does not presume the achievement of perfection but instead continually adapts to new requirements of change to achieve the best productive goal from moment to moment.
3) Its Positive as responsiveness consistently sets up an open, alert, hopeful, generally positive outlook regarding the next steps. This is energy is light, fluid, fun, more prone to hatching the next creative solution versus the relatively heavier, condemnatory, often stagnant and guilty energy that comes with an expectation of perfection.
Now for those of us who are addicted to the requirement of perfection, take a read at my WiseWorking post, "The Perfect is The Enemy of the Good". I think it important that we understand that giving up perfection does not mean that we cannot be excellent. I even submit that we can be more excellent if we strive for less perfection, and truth be told, the world does excellently with more excellence than with any perfection.
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