Today I stumbled upon a quote that has left me thinking all day. You may wonder why a quote has my thinking cap on? Well, I have referred to myself a time or two as a semi-perfectionist. Until today I have never put much thought into this personality trait of mine. We all know that no one other than Jesus Christ himself is perfect and that we all fall short of perfection. But why do we strive for the "unattainable" or perfection? This is what has been on my mind today.
The quote goes like this "I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence, I can reach for; Perfection is God's Business." ~Michael J. Fox
While reading this quote this morning from my Franklin Covey, I completely stopped planning my day I was so taken away. And, literally I have been thinking all day why do we strive for perfection if we know that it is unattainable. Is it that human nature to strive for what everyone tells us cannot be done? Is it to reach a goal never reached before? I can not come up with an answer that explains why we strive for something that we know is not possible to achieve. This brings a whole new meaning to the word "perfect", because in honesty is anything ever perfect? Can we not always improve? Or make it better? I believe that we can always improve.
Why does this matter to me? I know that I am guilty of sometimes getting caught up in the little details to make it "perfect" that I sometimes lose sight of the big picture. I think all of us perfectionist do this unless we mentally refocus our brain energy. Today I will try to no longer strive for perfection but rather excellence.
The More Things Change The More They Stay The Same,
Matt
