“Perfection is an Illusion”
Day in day out, I come to the realization that you really cannot hit perfection. But, you can try, and eventually, watch yourself fail. Sad right? Well, in truth, man was not created to be perfect. At this point, some people are already shaking their heads in disgust, thinking that I cut the crap and put a full stop to what could potentially accelerate their progress in life.
How?
Stay with me for a bit, especially if you are
a writer
Someone getting into a new field
If you are picking up a new skill,
If you have been crippled by inertia,
Before I move forward, here is what Salvador Dali, a painter who knew his craft says about perfection.
“Have no fear of perfection - you’ll never reach it.”
Can we fear perfection?
I love how Salvador does not treat perfection as a thing to be attained but as a state to be feared. To make something perfect is the action or process of improving something until it is faultless.
While this might seem appealing, the only things that cannot be improved upon are things that are dead. As a result, there will always be a new model of a car that was supposedly perfect or a new style for a dress deemed perfect. That is why there is always room for improvement.
“To be perfect is to be dead.”
I am sure every man has an image of how they would like things to be, i.e. a private jet, a fleet of cars and the occasional boat cruise, a perfect relationship, with no arguments or squabbles, a perfect room with the chairs stacked in the correct spots, their clothes neatly folded and arranged in their bags, and if you are like me, all your kitchen utensils properly cleaned and arranged.
But even these images of perfection are flawed. A stranger can waltz into your life and make things better, and then you realise how heavily imperfect your perfect life was.
Perfection breeds inertia.
Often times perfection stops us from taking action at all. We are often stuck with an image of what we think is best. Sometimes, this image could be so overwhelming that it usually leaves us stuck in a place where we cannot do anything.
Sometimes the problem with people is not the inability to work but the fear of performing below the perfect bar set for themselves.
Here is a tidbit for parents and those on their way to parenthood, you cannot raise a perfect child. (drops mic and awaits the comment section.)
If you intend to wait for the perfect child, don’t bother bearing raising any children at all.
If you patiently kept reading till now…
A couple of weeks ago, a very good friend and I were discussing creative writing and how editors could make works better. During our conversation, it struck me. While there are mediocre works that truly demand editing, so many creative works are edited based on the leanings of the editor and not the imperfection of the work.
It was further revealed to me in a trancelike meditation that if you gave your work to several editors after each edit, there would always be a missing synonym or a misplaced allegory.
Do I advise you to fold your arms and churn out despicable content? Hell no. You will probably shame yourself, your ancestors and your English teacher if you turn out content riddled with punctuation errors and obvious blunders.
What I do advise, though, is to work around the basics of editing or proofreading in the least. Cross your I’s dot your T’s and like Nike, “Just do It.”
A Grammarly account can help you do this with ease.
Now, this advice applies to writers and everyone on the list above. You do not have to wait till you have that perfect role or CV before you begin to put yourself out there. I obviously did not wait to be perfect before I started writing on Medium and started my blog.
You can easily see my carefree side on Twitter; or reach me personally on WhatsApp @ +2348177324373.
I am always open to disagreements too. Let me know what you think about perfection in the comment section.
