There is one thing in life we put all our effort into and expect phenomenal things. Some people seek perfection more than others do. And then some people seek even more perfection than those people.
Coming into my freshman year of college, I tried to work harder than I ever did in high school. I became obsessed, to a certain point, with trying to make everything perfect, trying to do everything right the first time. I aspired to be the perfect student who answered every question in class perfectly.
I became aware of the fact, however, that perfection may not have been the answer to life’s challenges. Every time I did not achieve that idea of perfection, I would get frustrated. I told myself I could have done better.
Eventually, it got to the point where missing one question on a quiz would ruin my day. I would never let myself forget it. My original idea of perfection became different to me. It wasn’t making me happy, and I started to wonder if it was even worth the effort.
Society has set the “ideal situation” for us. Just look at the American Dream ideal of the suburban house with the fenced in yard and a nice family. But this idea of perfection doesn’t exist. If that perfect scenario did not survive, what would make me think that perfect grades would sustain my happiness?
The answer was my own conception of what perfection meant to me.
Previously, I did not think about what was good for me when it came to working efficiently. Chris Marsh, instructor of communication and advertising, opened my first college class with the line, “Practice does not make perfect. Practice makes permanence.”
Thinking back to that statement, I realized that doing a tremendous amount of work would not lead me to produce a perfect product every time.
The idea of education is about expanding your palate of learning, not getting straight A’s. You want to care about learning in your classes, but you must remember that life isn’t worthless just because you missed one question. Life is all about getting questions wrong and learning from those mistakes.
To conclude that thought, here’s a quote from one of the greatest philosophers of the 21st Century, Hannah Montana: “Nobody’s perfect. You live and you learn it. And if I mess it up sometimes, nobody’s perfect.”
