The pursuit of perfection is the path to something unattainable but understanding it is about the journey along the way. If you are not striving for perfection, what are you really working towards? Isn’t the goal to always be PERFECT? Another way to describe this would be Grit. If you google the word “Grit” this is what comes up.
In psychology, grit is a positive, non-cognitive trait based on an individual’s perseverance of effort combined with the passion for a particular long-term goal or end state (a powerful motivation to achieve an objective)
Grit is one of the only traits or characteristics, however you want to describe it, that correlates to long term success. It is the ability to “chop wood, carry water” even with no end in sight. It could be days, months, years before anything comes of it, but as I said before, whether it does or doesn’t come, it is the pursuit of perfection that we should learn to fall in love with.
Ironically, minutes after I came up with the name for the blog, I did a peloton ride with Emma Lovewell and she said “perfection is just a word they came up with to make us feel bad.” Nobody is perfect. Everyone wants to put off the perception that they are perfect, that they have their lives together, that they are achieving success but every single person has something that holds them back from being perfect. So what is it that holds you back from being perfect? What can you do today to start making CHANGES towards that goal? You may never get there, BUT IT IS OKAY. It is the pursuit that you should fall in love with.
Too many times individuals don’t want to make the change they need because it is hard. for Example:
-I want to have a 6 pack- but I don’t want to eat nutrient dense foods and create a caloric deficit in order to lose body fat. aka, I still want to eat mcdonalds every Mon/Wed/Fri.
Us as humans, need a wake up call, in order to actually make a worth while change. It takes someone gaining 60lbs before they say, “Damn I need to make a change.” or it takes someone going to the hospital for diabetes to say “Damn, I need to make a change.” But typically it takes something crazy and drastic to actually shock that person in to saying, “Damn, I need to make a change.” So today don’t wait for something crazy to happen to make a change. Think of something you want to fix and FIX IT. In classic Waterbody fashion, my momma always said, “Don’t make excuses make improvements.”
Comment below something you want to change that could help you on the Pursuit of Perfection.
The Pursuit of Perfection in Human Performance 