Chapter 47: Perfection

Dear reader

You are the definition of perfect, you sly devil you. Welcome back! :D

A wise man once told me that there are no writers, there are only re-writers. It's the editor and not the writer who makes those best-sellers. I have to agree with him a little. Who buys the first draft? Everyone always wants the final product.

Many of us have this fear when putting pen to paper. It is the anxiety of writing something that will be easily criticized or torn down. Afraid of not reaching perfection. The mindset is this: 'I don't write a blog because I'm not good enough,' or 'I have nothing good to say, so why would anyone be interested to read it?' Dear reader, I encourage you to do something challenging, something that makes you afraid, every single day. For comfort and predictability are the greatest barriers to self improvement.

A great message that stayed with me was 'perfection begins where perfection ends'. This is to say that the moment we stop striving for perfection, the closer we are to achieving it. We all strive to be better and yet if we are afraid of starting, how will we ever reach the end? Remember the eastern philosophy: the journey of a thousand miles started with a single step. The struggle is not in the journey but the initiation. 


This life philosophy applies to all trades and passions that we have in life. Whatever you want to achieve, whatever makes you happy can be enriched if you put your time and energy into it. What we do is stop comparing ourselves to other people, and to understand that what we create is an individual expression, completely unique in the world. That is my definition of perfection.

 Successful people in their fields will make you feel like the only way to mastery is through their method. It is very easy to get to a certain level and teach people below you, but what we forget is that their path to success was made for them, and them alone. What they teach you is their version. We can certainly be inspired by them, even learn their techniques, but our own perfection will never be found if we are simply mimicking. So try not to see other people's skill as something higher than your own but instead see them as people who have simply started the journey that you hope to embark on.

The word perfection is a sickly one because it is a word that only exists in our fantasies. The irony of it is that perfection is found in imperfection. The beauty of people is in their flaws, not their strengths. There is no perfect man or perfect woman, there is only perfection in the eyes of the beholder. It is how people overcome obstacles not how they avoid them. If there were two people, one who was born perfect, and the other flawed but died perfect-who would you bet your life on? He who is born closer to this artificial perfection is probably more likely to lose his shine, whereas he who worked hard to gain a level of mastery, who worked through the muck, knows how hard it took him to get there.

Don't settle for the worst, because you reader, deserve the best. Perfection is motivation. Break the cycles of comfort and feel uncomfortable. It is in our mistakes that we grow and so be proud of making many. School was wrong. The most successful people were not closer to perfection and certainly did not get top marks. No. Most of them just failed enough times that all that remained was to succeed. :D

Have a great week!