Excellence
vs. Perfection
Where to
draw the line for yourself between ‘excellence’ and ‘perfection,’ is a delicate
topic for missionaries. All of you are
striving to improve both your worthiness and personal growth and I do not want
to accidently lower the bar for excellence.
After all, Christ commanded us, “Be ye therefore perfect…” I have seen missionaries on both sides of the
spectrum; mediocre efforts to improve or become so set on perfection that it is
debilitating. I hope this article
assists you to avoid perfectionism but embrace striving for excellence in your
pursuit for growth and worthiness.
Our
business model at Sunrise was very simple, we were a ‘Business centered
Practice.’ The first priority for our
existence was, “1 – Business,” meaning we did all in our power to operate
profitably. We used honest and the best
business management practices to administer our operation while producing
deliverables, doing business development and doing employee development. The second priority for our existence was, “2
– our Practice,” meaning we were pure engineers or other technical specialists
who loved our professions and did our work for the pure joy in our profession. It may be in their DNA, but many engineers are
perfectionists when it comes to what they produce.
This set
of priorities created remarkable business stability. If we did not follow our 1st
priority, we were not profitable, we would eventually go out of business and then
could not do our chosen professions that brought us so much satisfaction. If our Practice was our 1st
priority, the pure desire to produce a perfect engineering product would govern
regardless of how much money we lose. If
we were a Business centered Business we would probably go make widgets and stop
engineering when some widget fad paid more than engineering.
Occasionally
our business model would not be followed on specific projects because engineers
are generally passionate about making the perfect study, report, engineered set
of drawings, contract documents, etc. (deliverables). Costs could be going out the roof while the
engineer was still changing and improving his perfect deliverable. On a fixed fee contract this was devastating.
When this happened, we realized our priorities
were reversed and, as soon as practical, we would say, “What we have done is
good enough.” This brought up the age
old argument over excellence and perfection.
We had done our best, the product was excellent but admittedly not
perfect. At the same time, the client
did not contract with us to produce a perfect deliverable. In the engineering business, perfectionism is
disastrous but striving for excellence is essential to produce great
deliverables and ultimately our survival.
I have
observed that when missionaries either demand perfection of themselves or only
make mediocre effort; they run into serious trouble. Missionaries who strive for excellence grow
and improve.
Excellence
is a quality of performance that surpasses ordinary standards. It is a moving target that is continuously
pursued. It is simply doing your best
and letting that be good enough while you move on to your next challenge. Consider the following quotes regarding
excellence:
“I do the very
best I know how, the very best I can, and I mean to keep on doing so until the
end.” ― Abraham Lincoln
Perfectionism,
on the other hand, is destructive. Luckily,
it is a learned behavior, meaning you can learn a different behavior. It involves your striving for flawlessness,
striving to attain excessively high performance standards, you are overly
critical with self-evaluations and you fear negative evaluations of others. Perfectionists are often depressed because you
do not reach your self-imposed, impossible goals. You actually achieve less. If you do reach a goal, you immediately think
it must not have been high enough, you set higher goals and vow to try harder
next time. It wears you out.
When you
think about it, perfectionism is a selfish mindset. It turns your thoughts about your life, your
weaknesses and your concerns inward toward yourself. It keeps you from looking outward. It focuses your attention on what you are
doing wrong rather than the positive things you are doing to follow the Savior. It encourages and rewards comparison and
competition with others which breeds pride.
As a perfectionist you feel you are never doing enough.
Actually,
perfectionism pulls you away from the atonement. You strive to perfect yourself by your own
efforts and merit. You are essentially
telling the Savior you do not need him while you perfect yourself. But, Christ is the “…author and finisher of
our faith…” (Heb 12: 2), and only through his grace and merciful gift of the
atonement can we even begin to realize our potential and worth.
If the
following sounds like you, you may in fact be a perfectionist:
· You feel what you accomplish is never quite
good enough?
· You often put off turning in papers or
projects, waiting to get them just right?
· You feel you must give more than 100 percent
on everything you do or else you will be mediocre or even a failure?
· You feel reduced personal worth if you fail
to achieve a goal or if your accomplishments are not perfect?
· You fear making a mistakes, criticism,
rejection, and disapproval and avoid it by trying to be perfect?
· You overemphasis an endless list of “shoulds”
at the sacrifice of your own wants and desires?
· You perceive success to come to others with
minimal effort and stress on their part?”
You know
what true excellence in your life looks like.
It is stretching a little to do your best and then letting that be good
enough. Striving for excellence in your
life is called in the church, “enduring to the end,” and that is what is
expected of us in mortality. Christ will
perfect us; we do not have to attain perfection in all things ourselves.
20 Wherefore, ye must press forward with
a steadfastness in Christ…and endure to the end, behold,
thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life. (2 Nephi 31:20)
32 Yea, come unto Christ, and
be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness…
33 And again, if ye by the grace of God
are perfect in Christ…ye become holy, without spot. (Moroni 10:32-22)
Striving
for excellence brings growth while attempting perfection brings frustration,
fatigue and depression. Each of you must
personally make the decision of what to change, but in my experience, Elders
often need to raise their sights for true excellence and Sisters often need to
lower their aim from perfection to true excellence. As you find a healthy pursuit of excellence,
remember my motto for my mission: “No
regrets, no alibis, only excellence.”
President
Robinson
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