Why Should You Never Reach Perfection
Quite recently, a friend sent me some lyrics he had written and wanted me to go through them and let him know if they were good—simple enough, but his text also read, "Please rate them something from 1 to 10," which, however, was a little challenging part or that's what I thought. While the innocent scale started at 1 and ended at 10, it really was one going from crappy to perfect. These are things we don't mention, but the numbers really have such implications—you know it, don't you? He had written the stanzas impressively and I liked his choice and placement of words not to forget the meaning the lines conveyed, which was beyond what the words superficially stood for.
After reading, feeling and absorbing all I could from his lyrics, I sent him a text letting him know that I liked it and that he'd written them well, soon after which he reminded me that I hadn't rated them—something which I had to. I hadn't just ignored that clause in his text or that I had forgotten—I had just decided that I couldn't rate it. I took another look at his lyrics and a few moments later, told him that I couldn't settle on a number.
Why had I done that? Something as simple as spitting out a number based on how much I liked his work, which was way simpler than some other things we need a higher brain power to think and come up with solutions to. It wasn't about brain power or that I was too confused to really settle on a number, however, it was related to something else—something profound I realised the moment I was trying to conjure up a number to label it 'your rating' and deliver it for his creative expression.
The Scale
His lyrics weren't that bad to have a number anywhere close or below 5, the average. If by average we mean you and me and several others on the planet then he had written better than us and honestly, he could have written it worse than what he had settled onto. So I thought I shouldn't discourage him by rating it 5 or less than that because his work clearly deserved more. 10? While it was better than average, having mentioned it earlier too, it wasn't perfect or rather I think it could have never been perfect, or okay—it never should be labelled 'perfect.'
What about 9 then? If 10 stands for perfection, then 9 is the 'striving-for-perfection' zone. What does that mean? When a piece falls under that zone, it is always under constant improvement. It always gets better and better. One can express a given idea or convey a certain expression in countless ways—better word choice and placement, different sentence structure, or more depth to the meaning—any, some or all of them can be used to make the content richer and better. This is a dangerous zone, though. Once you get here, you'll stay here, maybe indefinitely. The only way out is by abandoning the project or by giving up wherever you are.
If you have ever written a short story or anything and are a perfectionist, then you know just what I am talking about. I am quite a perfectionist myself and I've been through that struggle. Imagine having to re-read and re-edit your write up after finishing with every paragraph, or worse? Every line. Even if you somehow manage to write something substantial, you'll always feel it can be made better. One more read and few teaks here and a few there. One last read and some more tweaks here and there. You will always just keep re-reading and revising your content slowing down or even halting your progress. This way, you'll either abandon your project because your ideas dried up or just keep revising until you eventually give up and finally leave it at that.
I focus on getting everything down, whatever I have in my head, and after doing that I have one or two editorial passes and then I'm done and ready to publish. This is a faster process and I've gotten a lot published this way, with the 'striving-for-perfection' attitude, I would have never even published my introductory blog post, all others would be a far-fetched dream. I would still have been busy trying to make my introduction more interesting and perfect and as volatile as ideas are, I would have missed all the ideas and consequently, I would have never written the blogs I wrote later.
What about 6, 7 and 8? 6 is the 'just-above-average' club. When it's just borderline good, something his work wasn't. So giving a 6 wouldn't have encouraged him to do better, but it could have had a side effect on him—indulging in self-doubt which is really destructive. Self-doubt really prevents you from giving your best by making you feel that whatever you are doing mightn't be good enough and you should, maybe, just bury it away. So one really starts avoiding something, hindering his growth which I wouldn't have wanted at all. 7 and 8? 7 seems a bit encouraging. It is better than average, but not the best—a zone you'd be comfortable in with 8 being just a little more encouraging and you should really stop here. Any further and you're in an indefinite process and a futile quest for perfection which you'd never reach. It is really funny, that though I had 10 numbers to choose from, the choice really came down to just 7 or 8.
Rate either 7 or 8. Sweet. So why didn't I send him a 7 or an 8? I thought it was really meaningless too. In most cases, I would or people would rate something a 7 or an 8—in some cases 9 and fewer cases, 10. I have never seen someone so honest that they've rated something their friends asked them to, a 1 or anything till 5 or even 6. The ratings are mostly from 7 to 10. 10, I've found to be chosen in more excited or emotional situations—some form of emotional filter. Even your friend, who wants a rating from you, somewhere believes his work to be good enough and is somewhere seeking some external confirmation—he's also tuned in to expect something 7 to 10. Really, if your friend ever asked you to rate his drawing or anything, what would you do? What if he's drawn it terribly? In that case, he'd know it too and won't send it himself until he gets it to 5 at least, but if he doesn't then would you honestly tell him it was a 1/10? Or would you still decide something between 7 and 8? What if your friend presents an outstanding and eye-widening sketch or painting and asks you to rate it? Will you then rate it a 9 or 10? I would probably not.
Whatever you are doing, and whichever thing you believe you're perfect at—break that notion. You'll only learn more and improve further if you consider yourself still in the learning phase. What about 9? Nine stands for that stage when we excessively spend time at perfecting something. How while studying, if we have studied something thoroughly, but before a test, we'll still feel like revising just once more to ensure that we're perfect at that. This revision will continue until the last minute, something which isn't needed. I'm sure you know someone like that; who is a scholar yet keeps reading and revising until the very last minute. What we should do, though, is keep updating ourselves whenever we notice a flaw that needs to be ironed out. We shouldn't actively seek flaws, that way we will always find some, but whenever an opportunity to improve turns up, we should take it—that is only possible if you aren't perfect.
I didn't give my friend a 9 or 10 for the same reason—that he'd lose on the opportunity to improve further. I also didn't give him a lower score to ensure that he keeps going. The best move, I thought, was to ignore the 'rate it' portion of the text and send him, "It was really good!"
What about 9 then? If 10 stands for perfection, then 9 is the 'striving-for-perfection' zone. What does that mean? When a piece falls under that zone, it is always under constant improvement. It always gets better and better. One can express a given idea or convey a certain expression in countless ways—better word choice and placement, different sentence structure, or more depth to the meaning—any, some or all of them can be used to make the content richer and better. This is a dangerous zone, though. Once you get here, you'll stay here, maybe indefinitely. The only way out is by abandoning the project or by giving up wherever you are.
If you have ever written a short story or anything and are a perfectionist, then you know just what I am talking about. I am quite a perfectionist myself and I've been through that struggle. Imagine having to re-read and re-edit your write up after finishing with every paragraph, or worse? Every line. Even if you somehow manage to write something substantial, you'll always feel it can be made better. One more read and few teaks here and a few there. One last read and some more tweaks here and there. You will always just keep re-reading and revising your content slowing down or even halting your progress. This way, you'll either abandon your project because your ideas dried up or just keep revising until you eventually give up and finally leave it at that.
I focus on getting everything down, whatever I have in my head, and after doing that I have one or two editorial passes and then I'm done and ready to publish. This is a faster process and I've gotten a lot published this way, with the 'striving-for-perfection' attitude, I would have never even published my introductory blog post, all others would be a far-fetched dream. I would still have been busy trying to make my introduction more interesting and perfect and as volatile as ideas are, I would have missed all the ideas and consequently, I would have never written the blogs I wrote later.
What about 6, 7 and 8? 6 is the 'just-above-average' club. When it's just borderline good, something his work wasn't. So giving a 6 wouldn't have encouraged him to do better, but it could have had a side effect on him—indulging in self-doubt which is really destructive. Self-doubt really prevents you from giving your best by making you feel that whatever you are doing mightn't be good enough and you should, maybe, just bury it away. So one really starts avoiding something, hindering his growth which I wouldn't have wanted at all. 7 and 8? 7 seems a bit encouraging. It is better than average, but not the best—a zone you'd be comfortable in with 8 being just a little more encouraging and you should really stop here. Any further and you're in an indefinite process and a futile quest for perfection which you'd never reach. It is really funny, that though I had 10 numbers to choose from, the choice really came down to just 7 or 8.
Rate either 7 or 8. Sweet. So why didn't I send him a 7 or an 8? I thought it was really meaningless too. In most cases, I would or people would rate something a 7 or an 8—in some cases 9 and fewer cases, 10. I have never seen someone so honest that they've rated something their friends asked them to, a 1 or anything till 5 or even 6. The ratings are mostly from 7 to 10. 10, I've found to be chosen in more excited or emotional situations—some form of emotional filter. Even your friend, who wants a rating from you, somewhere believes his work to be good enough and is somewhere seeking some external confirmation—he's also tuned in to expect something 7 to 10. Really, if your friend ever asked you to rate his drawing or anything, what would you do? What if he's drawn it terribly? In that case, he'd know it too and won't send it himself until he gets it to 5 at least, but if he doesn't then would you honestly tell him it was a 1/10? Or would you still decide something between 7 and 8? What if your friend presents an outstanding and eye-widening sketch or painting and asks you to rate it? Will you then rate it a 9 or 10? I would probably not.
Why Is Perfection a Bad Zone to Be In?
Perfection is a zone of no growth. Perfection is the final stage, there's nothing beyond it. If you think you are perfect at something, then you start falling behind. You develop a false sense that you're perfect which erases any scope for improvement because if you can still improve, then you're yet not perfect. The individual stagnates with his growth while denying any flaws and neglecting them. And as things are, one or the other day he will be far behind the current progress in that particular field or thing his expertise is in. That's also true for several other things. When you finally consider yourself enlightened, then you stop looking for more. You stop wanting to explore more or trying to iron out other inconsistencies. Think of such an individual in a school. He perfects the first chapter and believes he's perfect in that subject. He avoids study since he's already perfect and neglects it while the rest of the class is already going chapters ahead. When a test turns up, this student's false notion of perfection is torn apart in the worst possible way. Whenever you think you're perfect, you begin to neglect any chances of further improvement. The world we live in, the universe we live in is always expanding and we should too, in turn, keep expanding ourselves without self-proclaiming that we've already reached the edge of the universe and thus stagnate there.Whatever you are doing, and whichever thing you believe you're perfect at—break that notion. You'll only learn more and improve further if you consider yourself still in the learning phase. What about 9? Nine stands for that stage when we excessively spend time at perfecting something. How while studying, if we have studied something thoroughly, but before a test, we'll still feel like revising just once more to ensure that we're perfect at that. This revision will continue until the last minute, something which isn't needed. I'm sure you know someone like that; who is a scholar yet keeps reading and revising until the very last minute. What we should do, though, is keep updating ourselves whenever we notice a flaw that needs to be ironed out. We shouldn't actively seek flaws, that way we will always find some, but whenever an opportunity to improve turns up, we should take it—that is only possible if you aren't perfect.
I didn't give my friend a 9 or 10 for the same reason—that he'd lose on the opportunity to improve further. I also didn't give him a lower score to ensure that he keeps going. The best move, I thought, was to ignore the 'rate it' portion of the text and send him, "It was really good!"
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