Bring Big Dreams to Life!

Once we have a clear understanding of perfection and excellence -- that perfection is an ideal and excellence is an actual result -- the next step is to make perfection the goal in all things, big and small.

“Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.” --Vince Lombardi

 

Perfection? Isn’t that a contradiction since we can never reach an ideal? Not at all. Just consider the alternative: How can excellence be the central goal?  

Having “excellence” as a goal would be like driving a golf ball onto a green without a pin. What part of the green would be deemed to be most excellent? To where would we putt once there? How would we know if we were even on the right green? 

Greens without a Pin-- To where do we drive?

Rather, excellence is the measure of our proximity to perfection; to the ideal, or to the pin. Indeed, without the benchmark of perfection, excellence is unmeasurable, unknowable, and unobtainable.

 

"Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence." -- Vince Lombardi

 

Yet, there are many who suggest the pursuit of perfection is pure folly. Here’s but a sampling of quotes you can Google:

 

• “Perfection is the enemy of success”

 

• “It is impossible to reach “perfection”, so striving for perfection is foolish.”

 

• “The mindset of a person focused on perfection is critical, harried, time-crunched, unable to see the big picture, stressed, unconfident, and rarely allowed any sense of true accomplishment and personal reward” 

 

• "Perfection is not attainable, and chasing it is pointless.”

 

• “The striving for perfection is the striving for the illusive “one right way,” making others wrong or inferior.”

 

• “When you strive for perfection, you shoot yourself in the foot right from the start. You’ve given yourself a goal that’s unreachable...Perfection holds you back from reaching your true potential.”

 

• “I don’t believe God wants us to strive for perfection because he knows that will not happen. No one is perfect.”

 

• "I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence, I can reach for; Perfection is God's business"

 

• “There are many people in the world who struggle with letting go of perfection. I was one of those people and when I finally learned to give it up I felt as though a 10 ton brick had been lifted off my shoulders.”

 

• "Am I guilty of teaching perfection instead of striving for excellence? In the first place, am I clear with how these two words actually mean? "

 

Then there is this well-known rant entitled “Excellence vs. Perfection,” that trashes all things perfection:

Excellence vs. Perfection

Perfection is being right; Excellence is being willing to be wrong.

Perfection is fear; Excellence is taking a risk

Perfection is anger and frustration; Excellence is powerful

Perfection is control; Excellence is spontaneous

Perfection is judgement; Excellence is accepting

Perfection is taking; Excellence is giving

Perfection is doubt; Excellence is confidence

Perfection is pressure; Excellence is natural

Perfection is the destination; Excellence is the journey

--author unknown

Here’s how I would summarize it's view of perfection:

"Perfection -- according to this rant -- is an obsession to be right, all while filled with fear, anger and frustration, driven by your inner control freak, under pressure to "take-no-prisoners" in route to some unworthy destination." -- Big Dreams.Com

 

My God! Stop the whining already.

These stark warnings -- all from recovering perfectionists -- parallel the common proclamation* that, “money is the root of all evil.” Yet, there is no inherent evil in money anymore than there’s evil in perfection.  

Shakespeare warned that, “love of money” is at the root of all evil, not money itself. Likewise, it’s not perfection that is the “enemy of success,” but phycological enslavement to unwarranted perfection. It’s the attachment to money and the expectation of perfection that drives us to the dark side. Any fear of perfection itself is unfounded. 

* In June 2010, Google had 675,000 references to Shakespeare's quote including, "love of money" compared with 2,000,000 without.

I offer that perfectionists dismiss excellent results because they have naively confused perfection with actual effects. It’s not having the goal of perfection that paralyzes their performance, but the illusion of achievability -- indeed the compulsion to actually achieve the ideal -- and the frustration that invariably follows.

Further, perfectionists hold a twisted sense of entitlement, where they feel cheated or unworthy if they don’t achieve perfection. They are, in effect, playing God. With such unattainable standards they often conclude, “why try?” This misperception, I believe, is the distinction between greatness and the "good enough" standard that fills the void once perfection is discarded. 

It’s our divine right to align our being with perfection. Yet, we must then hold excellence in reverence, for it is as close as we can humanly get to the divine on this day. 

A brush with perfection is a glimpse of the divine; momentary, unpredictable, and fleeting. A hole-in-one is a majestic experience but unrepeatable, and certainly not something we can expect on any given golf outing. The far more common outcome is an "excellent" drive, progressing our ball towards the pin. Humility accepts. Expectation rejects.

 

Pursue Perfection; Revere Excellence.

 

So, it is not the guiding beacon of perfection that must be rejected, but the expectation of a storied outcome. When we hold our successes -- and those of others -- with grace and humility, we are accepting that there is no deserving “perfection.” Rather, we must offer our very best expression of perfection on this day and fully accept the reality of our human limitations. Our goal then is to pursue perfection, yet revere excellence along the way. 

Michael Jordan held an obvious reverence for excellence. He combined a legendary drive for perfection with humility, not frustration. He so aligned himself with perfection that he could close his eyes and make free throws. He knew he had perfected the fundamentals and used this exercise to test this belief.

Throughout, he never lost the joy of the game. With this attitude, he was undeterred by frequent setbacks -- "I have failed over, and over, and over again in my life.... and that is why I succeed" -- and became the greatest basketball player of all time.

Michael Jordan showed us that divinity can shine through us all.

Consider this.

Some say you should do "what you're good at." Others say you should do "what you love." Most say you should do something that represents both. Yet, if that was the whole truth, we'd all have jobs.

Who would dream of something new and think, "why not?" Who would follow their intuition into the unknown? Who would push themselves out of their comfort zone and attempt something never done before?

I say follow your dreams-- even if you're not good at it, the road ahead is hard, or you're ill prepared at this point in time. There is always a place for someone with destiny on their side. You'll find a way. Live it!

 

When “A” students get great ideas -- one of the 20 or so they get each day -- they think, “Hey. Cool!” Yet, before they’ve had time to react, another idea comes in tune; then another. Jaded by such treasures, they begin to think “Ah, these trains come along every 15 minutes. I can always catch the next one.”

With so many amazing possibilities, they might go into “option shock” and do nothing. Or, if inclined to action, they might exhaust themselves like a plate spinner putting one idea after another into motion without reaching sustainability on any one endeavor-- my personal favorite.

In contrast, when “C” students get a great idea, they run with it. That’s all they think about. They don’t want to miss this train, knowing another may never come along again. Scarcity creates high value; commitment; full-focus tenacity. In effect, being born with a natural blindness to idea flow brings the blessing of action.

The rest of us don’t have a scarcity problem; we have a sorting problem, which makes discovery of our destiny so critical. Only an internal compass can guide us. For us, it’s like being in the midst of a carnival. The possibilities are endless and reach out in every direction. Yet, our time here is short and we need to be working on ideas that matter most.

In “Victorious in Life,” Yogananda says, “Do something in this world-- do something wonderful!”  In another passage, he says,  “Unless you actually accomplish, you are not successful. It is not enough just to think success or think ideas; they must be demonstrated.” He didn’t say to merely dream, believe, or love something wonderful; he said, “do.”

So discover your destiny and blind your passions to anything other than the legacy you are here to create. Then, be like the “C” student. Catch that train!

The regulars at a local bar my dad frequented used to quip, "New Years is for amateurs." There’s a great truth in that. These guys were professional drunks, not just weekend warriors or drinkers on occasion. What made them good at drinking was that they did it everyday. While they could barely hold a job, they could really hold their liquor. Likewise, New Years’ Resolutions are for amateurs, not for those with big dreams."

"New Years’ Resolutions are for amateurs, not for those with big dreams."

 

Resolutions don’t work anyway. Anyone who frequents a gym will see the “resolved“ crowds each January.  By the end of January,  the parking lots are back to normal and there’s no more active members than before. This happens every year because this only happens once a year. Sure, New Years is a great time to begin anew, but it’s what you do everyday that drives results. 

Everyday resolutions are what keeps the fires of your will power burning; forging thought into sustainable action. It’s not sufficient to simply resolve, “I will go to the gym everyday,” and then expect that you will consistently, relentlessly "drag your ass" to the gym for the next 365 days. It must become “second nature,” as it is for the active members who have made the gym a central routine in their life. The difference is they don’t think, “Darn. I have to drag my ass to the gym again today.” Rather, they spontaneously think, “Great. I get to go to the gym now.”

There’s a great wisdom in this term "second nature," which has been lost. Most believe this to be the natural consequence of practice. Not so. Going to the gym everyday becomes “second nature” only if you engrain supporting beliefs. If you do not hold these beliefs, then going a few dozen times -- practice alone -- will change nothing, and it will take a supreme act of will to make it to the end of the month.

If it’s not sufficient to simply practice, then what do we do? Those of us who want to hold our resolutions must install supporting beliefs. Install beliefs?... Yes. Install them. New beliefs must be installed into your cyber self  -- the “i robot” or “i Bot” that holds the collection of learned habits we call, "second nature."

Right now, you may find it second nature to go home each night and take a nap, spontaneously thinking, "Oh, I'm tired. I'll just go to the gym tomorrow." If that’s you, then the “you” that is comforting your candy ass and justifying your lack of action needs to be replaced by a “you” that doesn’t think that way. Your "second nature" needs an upgrade to version 2.0.

It is essential to understand that you are not the “you” that is sabotaging your resolutions. Nor are you the body, the physical expression or “print out” of your mind set and cumulative actions in the kitchen and the gym.

You are the awareness, the essence behind the “iBot;” the being that has a body and a bot. Your “iBot” is merely the source of your spontaneous programming; the little “i” that was built on belief, one limiting experience at a time, through-out your lifetime. Yet, if you're looking for the saboteur of your New Years plans all these years, “bot” is its middle name!

 

"Until you reset the autopilot, you will never change your destination."

Your current “iBot” is the “you” that exactly matches the results you’ve achieved in the past. To get different results, you need a different "you," the unconscious, spontaneous thinker that has yet to buy-in to those New Years resolutions of yours. It's like autopilot on a boat. Time after time you can you can reset your destination, but the boat just snaps back on course. Until you reset the autopilot, you will never change your destination. It's as simple as that. 

It’s your unconscious programming that holds the real power, like the submerged portion of an iceberg. Yet -- just as though they were ice -- beliefs are frozen in form, and can only be chipped or melted away as new beliefs are frozen in their place. With that understanding, let’s call this cyber self, this "i-bot" our “Ice Bot” to denote both its massively submerged and stubbornly frozen nature.

It is the Icebot that walks, talks, and expresses "you" automatically, just as it was trained to do. It imposes limits on everything outside its comfort zone by its reaction and performance.

You are the big “I” imposing dramatic change on the walking and talking planned for the new year, and the one who stands in horror as “you” react or perform badly. An Icebot always resists change. It doesn’t know or care about what big “I” says or accomplishes; it’s just the autopilot! And while big "I" has the brains, little "i" holds all the power. In effect, it's as though your puppet has come to life and you've lost control of the show!

 

"It's as though your puppet has come to life and you've lost control of the show!"

The key to upgrading your "second nature" is the bombard yourself with everyday affirmations.  Affirmations are replacement beliefs carefully designed to support your desired performance, once installed. Installing the right reasons to go the gym -- and anything else you set out to accomplish-- is the basis of a simple, sustainable system for continuous improvement. 

I have to say that I found affirmations to be silly and had no idea why they kept showing up in all kinds of writings, especially in “self help” books. They seemed useless -- like ammo without a gun -- until I learned the power and promise of installing new beliefs. Was I supposed to stand in front of mirror a say this silly stuff?! Well, yes, but then I realized what was going on here.

You are not talking to yourself. Rather, you are talking to your cyber self, the Icebot, and by all available means -- visual, audio, imaginative -- deliberately and methodically “re-forming” ineffective beliefs with programming that works. Think of as the reeducation of a bad robot. Every day; every way.... Frequency builds awareness. Before long, new beliefs will have been iced in place of old.

Soon, the results just bubble up when it’s time to go workout. Where "you" used to think of yourself as “lazy,” your new spontaneous thoughts are nothing of the sort, “I’ve got a body made of steel. It’s an amazing machine that I love to put through its routine. It’s time again? Fantastic. I can’t wait to get to the gym!"  Believe. You can.

Your spontaneous thoughts will change to whatever you sincerely and relentlessly affirm. Try it. Icebot doesn't care. Like a parrot, it will just repeat whatever it's trained to say. This is how you master your game. Master yourself.

At the end of one of his audio books, Jim Collins talks about his own New Years resolutions. Each year he comes up with three things he's going to start doing, three things he's going to stop doing, and three systems he's going to put in place to support these efforts. The brilliance is in the systems. It's the support systems that empower these new resolutions, never the goals on their own. Simple, sustainable systems.

So why wait for New Years to do an upgrade? Go for continuous improvement and let the results determine when it's time to add a new resolutions.

Life is short. Your legacy is calling. 

 

I'm amazed, amazed, amazed when I hear excellence equated with perfection, and then dismissed as though excellence is some absurd standard and "good enough" is, well, good enough. It's not, unless your intent is merely to entice the masses to take baby steps away from their TVs and off their couches.

We should all strive for "perfection" and, through that, hope to achieve excellence. What's not universally understood is that these words describe different aspects of the same standard. Perfection is an ideal; Excellence is an actual result! You will never achieve perfection in anything you do, yet only when you aspire for perfection can you hope to achieve excellence. And through excellence we achieve self-mastery.

With "good enough" as our standard, we only learn to compromise, take short cuts, and quit when giving our best is too hard or inconvenient. We learn self indulgence. What kind of cars would Lexus build if their vision was, "relentless pursuit of good enough?"

 

John Wooden had it right. What did he do after his team not just won the NCAA championship, but had an undefeated season? Not one loss! He had his team work on weaknesses; continuous improvement. Results were secondary. Wooden always believed that giving your best -- and becoming your best -- is what truly mattered.

"Master your game. Master yourself."

 

While few of us have the privilege of using sports as a vehicle to achieve "perfection," this still holds. For the rest of us our "game" is our work, family, or community. When you do something wonderful, you not only serve others but develop your inner strength.