Writing this blog post was an intentional exercise in frustration for myself. I don’t like to write or talk about something until I fully understand it, since I don’t like appearing thoughtless or unprepared. As a result, I often become far more anxious about papers or speaking up in class than I really need to be. I think I often avoid real opportunities for learning and growth, however, by giving into this perfectionistic tendency. In an effort to overcome this tendency, then, I offer my apologies to the reader, and I invite you to join me as I imperfectly reflect on perfectionism.
A frequent reminder in my family is that “the perfect is the enemy of the good,” meaning that often in our pursuit of a flawless, unattainable goal, we give up accomplishing something good. A problem I often have with following this advice in practice, however, is that to simply settle for “good enough” is deeply unsatisfying. I believe I have a responsibility to bring forth my best effort in my academics and other commitments, which necessitates measuring my work against a perfect standard. For example, a paper I write as an undergraduate will never be flawless, but I do need to measure it against a rubric that is. Without a comparison to something without flaws, I wouldn’t be able to identify the mistakes in my own work.
I often get caught up in little flaws, however, so that I begin to lose the bigger picture. I get
frustrated with myself not only for my inability to produce a perfect product, but with my own
desire for perfection that is hindering me from making progress. The issue here isn’t so much
that I don’t get my work done; in fact, I normally am able to produce good work. The issue is
that I usually make myself miserable in the process because I measure myself against unrealistic
standards. Those high standards I’ve set for myself, however, are exactly what enabled me to
complete the good work in the first place. In practice, the perfect isn’t the enemy of good results;
it is the enemy of a good life.
So perhaps you see now why this blog post is an exercise in frustration for me. I’ve not come to
a firm conclusion about how to address my own bad habits and bring more balance into my life.
Something surprising and helpful, however, that I’ve come across is that the concept of the
“perfect” is not universal across time and cultures. In my mind, I often equate something perfect
to something distant, ideal, and absolutely without fault. In contrast, our word “perfect” comes
from the Latin “perfectus,” a combination of the words “per,” meaning “through,” and “facere,”
meaning “to do” or “to make.” Literally then, to do something “perfectly” is to “complete it all
the way through.” In ancient Greek, as I’ve learned in my Greek course this semester, the word
for perfect comes from “telos,” meaning “the end.” Again, perfect is akin to completion.
While this element of completion is certainly present is our modern conception of perfection, and
ideas of flawlessness and distance were parts of ancient conceptions, I found that considering
these different meanings shifted the idea of the perfect in my mind. A perfect work isn’t flawless;
it is something completed all the way through to the end. My goal then, my responsibility, is to
use my best abilities and resources to bring a task I’ve been given to successful completion. If
I’m able to produce work that is as good as it can be, in recognition of my own limits and talents,
then it will be done all the way through. I know what I do will never be perfect, but perhaps a
broader concept of what is perfect in a given situation will not only allow me to do good, but to
be happy as I do it.
Eileen Thacker is a sophomore McConnell Scholar in the class of 2029. She is studying French with a minor in political science.
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