I practice Iyengar yoga and Brazilian jiu jitsu, two disciplines that seemingly can never be mastered. There’s always something to learn, to tweak, to challenge yourself with. It’s surprising that I’ve stuck with both of them, especially jiu jitsu, because of how frustrating it can be to “get it.” But it’s the idea that I may never experience complete perfection with either of them that motivates me to keep at it. To keep getting better. To keep learning. To keep my brain engaged.
The definition of perfection is relative. Perfection means different things to different people. But striving for perfection is key. Maybe that’s all that matters. Because what would we do when we got to perfection, anyway? We’d probably want to be somewhere else where we were challenged to improve, where there was more to learn. That’s human nature, to just keep moving forward. To keep improving. I love the quote by Vince Lombardi: “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.”
What if you were motivated by the desire to improve? Instead of avoiding activities because you aren’t good at it, why not change your perspective and welcome the opportunity to strive for perfection? Without attaching to the outcome. What if that keeps you in the game long enough to experience excellence? And what if, at that point, you experience happiness and satisfaction? Isn’t that more important than this thing called perfection?
Let’s live and enjoy where we are at in the moment. It’s the journey that counts. Let’s get rid of the notion that we have to be perfect before we can experience all that’s available.
