Perfect people, if they exist at all, are something to behold, that’s for sure. Perfect people never have problems, everything always turns out right for them, they always marry the right person, have the best, most perfectly behaved kids, have the perfect job, their hair always looks perfect, their clothes always look the absolute best, their shoes are always shined, their shoe laces are always tied, they speak four languages perfectly, they make tons of money.
They are perfect.
Now, before you and I throw up at the thought of perfection, hold on a minute. Is anyone that good?
I doubt it very seriously. From what I read, people make mistakes. They stumble and fall, they mess up, and they make poor decisions. They in effect do more things wrong than they do right.
Don’t have a weak heart. Don’t despair because your life is not “perfect.”
Remember this:
“I may not be perfect,
but I can get better.”
That is something I can hook onto, can you?
I may not be perfect,
but I can be better
every day.
Wow. Love that! I can do that.
Here’s another way of saying this: “Just because we have failed at something doesn’t mean we are a failure.”
I love this quote from Michael Jordan, basketball great. He certainly wasn’t “perfect” according to this comment. Michael once said:
“I have missed over 9,000 shots
in my career. I have lost almost 300 games.
On 26 occasions I have been entrusted
to take the game winning shot … and missed.
I have failed over and over again
in my life – and that is precisely
why I have succeeded.”
My, oh my. You mean to say big people make mistakes? Icons of sports, industry, and world leaders? Even normal mortals like me make mistakes?
That is exactly what I mean.
You see. We take the trials and tribulations of life, the foibles, the mistakes, the fumbles and the foul balls and we do better next time.
We Get Better!
That’s it.
We get better.
-I can’t live a perfect life. I’m not a perfect husband. Ask Carolyn.
-I’m not a perfect writer. Read some of my past stuff.
-I’m not the world’s greatest speech maker – yet.
-I’ve fumbled, mumbled, misspelled, misrepresented, tripped, fallen down, sang off key, missed deadlines, and gone bankrupt. But I’m getting better.
I’m better for having experienced every one of these mis-steps.
Was it pleasant at the time? Certainly not.
But I made it through every one of life’s pitfalls and mistakes.
I’m reading and following the prescription in Julia Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way. On page 30 she makes this statement that caught my attention. “In order to be good you have to be bad.”
You ever thought anyone would applaud you for being bad? I can handle that.
I wrote a blog a few months ago and used the following quote “The arrow that hits the bull’s eye is the result of a hundred misses.”
Now that is far from perfect. Perfection is not even in sight with that statement.
But we get better.
Aim, fire, miss, strike out – aim again, correct your angle, correct the amount of pressure.
Correct
Correct
Correct
You are getting better.
Perfect? Not likely.
Better? Every day, in every way, with every correction.
I want to be better. What do you want?
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