Is the ideal, the perfect fictional? Although I am loth to concede the point, it may well be. My pursuit of perfection has been a very punishing and demoralising journey. I cannot pretend to have the ability to think if I do not stop and question the nature of perfection at this point. Indeed, anyone a little less stubborn and a little more inteligent would have stopped to ask questions long ago. The cynic and the romantic within me are perpetually at war on this subject. I present here both viewpoints and my rather incomplete analysis of perfection.
The romantic in me would have me believe that perfection is within my reach and that I need only to train my mind to believe in perfection. The world exists within my mind and all its problems are but my thought. Can I not solve all problems by manipulating my thought then? Every time I watch a feel good movie or read of great men and their victories, the romantic in me gets stronger. In reality however, perfection continues to elude my grasp. When faced with a problem or given a task the romantic encourages me to put in just that little bit more extra, but to no avail. In the face of stark reality, perhaps the cynic can provide a better answer?
Perfection is a fairytale, the grapes hanging just out of the fox’s reach a myth, a fabrication, a lie. Huh! Perfection is just a phantom of our minds which serves only to lower our self esteem and demoralise us. The holy grail which we all seek but cannot find. Why pursue a phantom? Why not do something more useful? The cynic within me makes a pretty convincing argument for forgetting about perfection and abandoning its pursuit. I must however groan at this point, because perfection is one of the few things that I desire above all else. What is to be done?
I may not have an answer to the question of what it is that I must do. But I do know this, I shall never surrender to mediocrity and therefore I must pursue excellence. Perhaps it is pursuing perfection itself that makes it so elusive. Could my mind be tricking me into pursuing perfection and setting me up for a fall? Taking my eyes away from the big picture and focusing it on minutiae. A man far wiser than me once said, “Seek not to be as the masters are, but seek what they sought instead”. Perhaps, the answer to this conundrum is painfully obvious to do a job as well as possible without a constant focus on perfection.
I am inclined to believe that pursuing perfection takes one’s eyes of the goal, leading to the inevitable mistake and for a perfectionist, the inescapable guilt trip. It is time for me to bid you adieu for now and go experiment to find how valid my conclusion is. Do share your thoughts on the subject with me.
~Dedicated to @jonahx, who inspired this post when we spoke on twitter.
P.S.: A critic might would call my piece above dull and uninspired, another inane addition to all the noise about perfection in the blogosphere and definitely not the best of my work. However, my intent was not to share any particular insight on perfection but to vent about having a tough time getting anywhere near perfection. As a secondary objective, I just want to get back into the habit of posting again. If you are looking for a really nice post, fear not, several are in the pipeline.
