The quest for perfection is something that often leads to feeling dissatisfied with ourselves.
That word originally meant something subtly and critically different from how we use it today. In origin, from Old French it is a compound word that translates as completely made. That phrase seems open to a lot of interpretation. Whatever you as a modern reader think of as perfection is likely both more specific and harder to achieve.
The modern concept is weird. The only ways to be perfect or do something perfectly is to either meet an abstract standard or someone else’s standard (she/he/you/they think I’m perfect). There is nothing from us in those thoughts. How can we be exuberantly joyful in adhering to someone else’s ideal of what we are to achieve?
The Exuberant Life is about seeing the wonder in life and living ever more consistent with living joyfully and seeing wonder. There is no place for someone else’s abstract concepts to in such a life, most especially not someone else’s idea of perfection.
Does that mean we nonchalant our way through life?
No.
Try this in place of seeking perfection:
Good enough never is. Optimal is good enough; but only for today. Tomorrow my optimal can be different.
The key word here is optimal as a substitute for perfect. The root here is still what the word is about: the best: the best we can do. We know what our best is today when we do something as well as we are able; and when do our best we can find joy and satisfaction. A consequence of throwing ourselves completely into a process is that we come to understand it more deeply. That means the today’s best includes an awareness of how tomorrow’s best can be different.
How is this contrast from trying for perfection? The contrast is in how we evaluate what we do. Trying for perfection leaves us feeling good only when we achieve that singular result. Whenever we fall short of perfection, we feel dissatisfied and something other than joyful. We tend to immediately start thinking of what we did wrong and how to do it right next time, putting pressure on ourselves.
By contrast, doing the best we can gives us the optimal result, allowing us to feel satisfied and joyful. What we learn from the process can be another source of joy, because we know that our optimal now is not the same as it was before. Rather than feeling pressure to meet perfection, we can with excitement do our best with the awareness that we can do it differently than the day before.
Perfection is about results, optimal is about process. How I evaluate myself is whether or not I did the best I was capable of in the moment; and if I did I achieved the optimal result. That is worthy of a joyful celebration.