Perfection: The Thief Of Progress

Introduction:

Welcome my friend,

I came across this interesting analysis that on average our lifetime would consist of about four thousand (4000) weeks.

That seems quite a short time and when we do the math, it gets even shorter since there are fifty-two (52) weeks in a year.

This means that it takes being alive until your seventy-seventh (77th) birthday to experience those number of weeks.

So statistically speaking and judging by the average lifespan, many of us wouldn't; which kind of puts everything into perspective.

Every Friday we come here to have a conversation in the form of this newsletter, we mark the end of another week, as we move closer to the end of our stay here.

So what exactly do we do with our days?

This can be a good reminder that we don't have all the time here, so that we can live each day intentionally trying to use our time wisely.

It's good to be back here with you my friend. How has the week been for you since our last conversation?

Discussion:

If you're on social media then you've most likely seen people throwing the words “perfectionist” and “obsessive” around as if to describe themselves in some “cool way”.

However, going by dictionary definition, a perfectionist is simply someone who refuses to accept any standard short of perfection, in other words flawless.

Truly, this may be a good thing if it pushes us to want more out of life or to demand more of ourselves as in striving for excellence.

After all, anything worth doing should be done well.

So why then does the theme or our discussion describe perfection as the thief of progress?

■ Identifying The High Flier

‘Go hard or go home’ can be a good phrase to set the tone for serious motivation as we go after all we want with everything we have.

Yet, for how long would we subject ourselves to the strive of chasing after one big deal: a huge contract or a huge sale, that we miss out on the satisfaction of closing those small ones?

This is the high flier identity.

It's good to be goal driven and ambitious but when it robs us of the fulfillment from little wins we set ourselves up to burn out never really finding joy in our work.

This isn't good.

So many people are unhappy with more, while some others are happier with far less simply because the former has unrealistic expectations of themselves.

When we recognize and appreciate our progress, it gives us the self confidence to continue moving forward having gained self belief from seeing old desires and dreams become realities.

For the high flier, this is not the case as this is a person never satisfied with anything less than perfect, when in fact there's really no such thing as perfection.

■ Negative Impacts Of The High Flier Mindset

If we're wondering why a seemingly good trait and what might have been an effective driving force of most successful people is being portrayed in this light then let's walk along this line of thought;

The high flier may also be often times caught in:

▪︎ Procrastination 

The reason many of us never start that business is because we want to make a grand entry into the industry.

The reality of life is that not many would.

When we compare ourselves with people that have sacrificed tears and sweat into their craft we deny ourselves a shot at mastery after we've been molded by the process and shaped by experience.

So instead of wishing to start from the tenth (10th) step on the ladder, why not take that first one?

▪︎ Delusion 

To live in fantasy is like living in Disneyland, it's all made up.

There's no lil miss right or some prince charming out there and every healthy relationship has been born out of intentional work outside of mere love but for the reason of it.

Another kind of living in dreamland is refusing to chase without working hard enough to create the value to attract.

Oftentimes the commodity to be sold first is the one on display so never feel ashamed of your livelihood (whatever it is) that you're not proud enough to hawk it.

▪︎ Ingratitude 

If we're not satisfied with what we have or do, then we may never be grateful for them.

Perfection robs us of the joy of appreciating our progress, as we're caught in an unhealthy quest for more.

▪︎ Obsession 

The perfectionist does not understand balance as everything worth doing is worth doing till death.

This is unwise.

We all have different aspects of our lives and we have the responsibility to attend to each of them accordingly without making one the opportunity cost of the other.

When we sacrifice our family and loved ones for career success, money, power or fame, we may lack warmth and embrace on the nights we need them the most or a listening ear on the days when all we desire is whom to bare our hearts.

▪︎ Unhappiness

The perfectionist is often unhappy because life is designed in such a way that we may not find ourselves on the winning side everyday.

This is why our happiness should never be dependent on wins or losses.

When we understand that there's always something to learn from every circumstance we begin to see them all as one, whether good or bad.

■ Moderation And Mediocrity

As believers we've been called to excellence.

So while we're not trying to be perfect, we also understand that we can't be mediocre because it's not the nature of our God to be that way.

However, this only means that we have a better grasp of God's timing which is oftentimes different to ours since he takes his time to develop and prepare us in such a way that we're not overwhelmed by his blessings.

Moderation opposes desperation since we're not going to go outside of God's will in search of our success as part of our attempts to “do it at all cost”.

■ Relationship Between Perfection And Guilt

The enemy has used the tactics of perfection to deceive God's children into thinking that they have to come to their father sinless.

This is untrue.

Like in the story of the prodigal son God rushes out to meet us while we're yet sinners clothed in rags of sin, shame and guilt from all the things we've committed since we walked away from home.

Then what does he do?

He clothes us with his beautiful robe of righteousness teaching us how to do his will and to obey him.

This is because that's how to live in his presence.

When we return home, we can no longer move around in those rags that we wore in our days of being away because that looks out of place in our heavenly kingdom.

So he transforms us completely as we receive our full restoration to the glory of His name.

This will be visible for all to see since we begin to behave differently in character and attitude showing his Godliness in our interactions with those around us.

Yet it all began by the simple decision to walk back home.

So why not do the same, dear heir of the kingdom?

As the prodigal son realized, even his father's servants had it better at home than he did away from it.

Summary:

God didn't create us to be perfect, He created us to be useful.

When we feel unworthy because we can't be something else or can't do it like someone else, what we're saying is that He must have made a mistake.

We may yet be the next big thing but our primary responsibility is to start making a difference in our immediate environment by being of service to those around us.

This is the whole essence of our creation.

Master Apprentice.

www.x.com/truekingmaker