Perfection is an illusion, you can go at it with full force and enthusiasm, but there is no end point.
However, if you believe in progression and improvement, that illusion of perfectionism can be put to good use.
Like The Joker said...
“I’m like a dog chasing cars, I wouldn’t know what to do if I caught one, you know, I just...do things.” - The Joker (The Dark Knight 2008)
Most of us who pursue perfection, quite unknowingly follow this quote and path.
We run behind perfection, we want it badly, but we don't really know what we'll do when we finally get our hands on it. We don't have a plan ready, not yet at least.
Hell, we don't even know what perfection really is and what it looks like. As humans our development is endless; it's when we decide to stop, that is when we stop growing. Yes, we do have plateaus, genetics and talent both play a role here, and not every person is capable of breaking through a certain plateau and phase.
These days even a fool knows that there's no such thing as perfection, but the wise don't stop there, instead they utilize that notion; choosing progress over perfection. However, the idea of perfectionism is always there, used as bait; the goal being to ascend to better and greater levels, while following the regimen of repetition.
I say all this, and I believe in a lot of it too, but my methods of chasing perfection while utilizing repetition hasn't been helping much; there's a little dispute going on between them.
I've been going through a lot of mental pressure lately, for which I really can't concentrate and fully commit to one single thing for a certain amount of time. I find myself hovering around a lot, from here to there, sometimes feeling lost, demotivated; even the things that used to bring me a ton of joy don't necessarily work anymore.
Work has to be done, whether you feel like it or not; money in your pockets and food on the table must always be present. But my habits though, my personal routine, that's where I'm struggling. Reading daily for at least 15 minutes has gone down to maybe reading once a week, I don't feel like working out that much, and somehow I've squandered my writing and posting routine on Hive/PeakD as well.
The problem lies behind the idea of perfecting every damn thing that comes in my way. My thoughts get the better of me, for example: "you have a foggy mind, you can't write or compose too well right now, so you should skip" - "you won't be able to read long enough, what's the point of reading 5 pages" - "this post right here doesn't fit your blog and isn't up to par, hence, you should skip".
All in all, I'm lost in search of perfection, afraid to make mistakes, not ready to accept average results; even if it is just my hobbies.
I still remember the little line @tarazkp mentioned, when we were discussing about posting and maintaining a streak on Hive/PeakD - "sometimes it's not all gold".
And I say it surely isn't all gold; whatever I post, no matter how less I read or workout, and I must accept it. Even if I end up reading just 5 pages instead of reading 15 to 30 minutes a day, I should be happy; it may not be the gold standard, but at least I'm reading, which is better than not reading at all, right?
We're humans after all, we want perfection in every single aspect, but sometimes we don't or just can't put in the effort. And we were designed to make mistakes. Yet, I believe through repetition we are able to bring down the number of mistakes; steadily becoming more efficient and productive at what we do.
I guess sometimes you just have to start, don't end up losing yourself in search of perfection. Make do and manage with a bit of silver and bronze every now and then, gold is more expensive after all, and some of us can't afford it.
So, instead of stopping, settle for some silver, but do make sure that you keep on going.
Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence. - Vince Lombardi
