How many times hasn't a 9/10 bothered us? All we strive for is a perfect 10 and more often than not we feel it is a crime to get anything less than that. Oh yes we are the perfectionists and its either a 10/10 or nothing at all. Be it in exams, sports, any other contests and now even skin colour and fairness is measured on that scale of 10. Perfectionism- a word that I love and hate at the same time. It's good to be perfect and it's bad to be perfect as well. Most of us want to be the best in whatever we do. That's acceptable! But what's not acceptable is wanting to be perfect in everything we do. At the same time so trying to be the best is a worry as well. No matter how talented we are, no matter how great we are, we can never be perfect in everything that we do. Yes, I maybe an awesome singer, but I may not be an awesome dancer. And though I'm an awesome singer, I may not be the best. In the quest for being the best, we forget our own individuality, our uniqueness!
There are two types of perfectionists- the healthy perfectionists and the unhealthy ones. A healthy perfectionist runs towards success, but an unhealthy perfectionist runs away from failure. Well, it is good to give your best to everything that you do. It is good to be better than the last time. It is good to to take one step at time towards your goal of being perfect. It's good to do your work exceedingly well without any scope for error. But doing that must not be a burden. It's always good to have realistic expectations. I'm not against dreaming big, but do it one step at a time.
And why do we forget that failure is not an end in itself? Why do we forget that it is not wrong to fail? Failure is indeed the stepping stone to success. We are not at fault if we fail. We are at fault if don't try. We are at fault we don't learn from our mistakes. Failure may make us a little slow but remember it also teaches us to grow. And it all depends on our perspective, on how we take things!
And sometimes,10 on 10 may not be the yardstick for perfectionism! It may be improvements! Doing better than the previous time! The 10 on 10 idea leaves you with no scope for improvement. Once you are a 10 on 10 in whatever you do, even if you improve you will still be a 10 on 10, as you cannot be a 11 on 10.
So keep improving, keep achieving! Not to be a 10 on 10, but to be a better person, a better human being!
