Overcoming Perfectionism
If you let it, perfectionism will rob you of peace, plus the joy of whatever you’ve accomplished so far. The sportswear manufacturer Fila took out a full-page ad in a newspaper to honour its NBA All-Star spokesman, Grant Hill, and, at the same time, take a swipe at the pressure young people feel today to be perfect. The ad pictures Hill surrounded by this text: ‘This year Grant Hill led his team in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals, led his team back into the playoffs, led the league in All-Star balloting, earned a place on the Olympic team, didn’t punch an official, didn’t demand a contract extension, was never tardy, was always cordial, didn’t dump his high school friends, listened to his mother, remembered the doorman at Christmas, made his bed daily, promised to take shorter showers in an effort to conserve water, got plenty of sleep, didn’t hurt a fly, organised his thoughts, chose paper over plastic, appeared fully clothed in interviews, improved his vocabulary, counted his blessings, said nice things about his teammates, fed coins into other people’s parking meters… practised what he preached, actually paid attention to the stewardess’s emergency flight instructions, donated a kidney—and vowed to do better next year.’ Now, let’s get serious. There will always be areas of your life that need improvement; you will never ‘arrive’. But that doesn’t mean you can’t stop and enjoy the moment, or celebrate the distance already covered and say to yourself, ‘I’m not all that I should be, but I’m better than I used to be. I’m all right, and I’m on my way.’