Soulful Sundays: Perfection

“Perfection is the lowest standard.” —Tony Robbins

Separating the voice that invites us to improve from the one that demands perfection is a difficult affair. The key difference lies in our relationship with time. Constructive criticism does not dwell in the past. Its focus is on improving the future by changing the present. Destructive criticism, on the other hand, thrives on mistakes. It overemphasizes faults not in the spirit of improvement, but precisely to avoid the difficult work of confronting change.

Our ego demands validation. It craves control. Perfectionism offers both in abundance, allowing the ego to remain unchallenged. Unexpected circumstances will always arise. By maintaining the belief that things should always occur as expected, the ego takes the easy way out and avoids struggle. This is a retreat from responsibility. Furthermore, the ego preserves its veneer of control by insisting that the only way to set things right is to double down on its own expectations—the hallmark of obsession.

It is impossible to preconceive perfection. The true, the good, and the beautiful lie just beyond definition. No mortal can knowingly create them. We can only strive. And in striving, we may—if we are lucky—play some part in the sublime. Perfection, then, is a quality we observe only after the hard work is done: after mistakes are made and overcome, after we surrender our narrow ideas, and after we begin to change honestly.