Perfection

My dad had two careers at the same time. He was an orthodontist Monday-Wednesday in his local office. On Thursday he practiced in a satellite office forty miles north. On Friday and Saturday he worked our ranch thirty miles to the south. It might seem like and odd combination, but it worked well for him. As you can imagine he was extra busy at each place. One of the most important things I observed from him was deciding what needed to be perfect and what didn’t. I’ll give you an example.

We built a lot of barbed wire fence at the ranch and were efficient with our time because it was very hard to work after dark. We didn’t have enough time to make everything perfect and still get the job done. The important thing was finishing while keep three things in mind. The fences needed to keep the cattle in, last a long time, and be built as cheaply as possible. Once he got a good deal on some quality cedar posts. There was only one problem. They weren’t perfectly straight. After we built the fence it wasn’t as pretty as a fence with straighter posts. He said, “That’s ok, the cows don’t care.”

The orthodontic office was a very different situation. There is not telling how much wire he bent over the years to straighten his patient’s teeth. However, unlike the cows, parents cared very much that their children’s teeth were perfectly straight. He would do whatever was necessary to make sure that happened.

I dealt with perfection in a little different way when I was coaching basketball. In the first few practices of the season I was a real stickler for details. I would look for things to correct in a positive way. I wanted my players to get use to two things, paying attention to detail and accepting input. Then I could mold them into a team. Once games started I wasn’t nearly as picky. It’s impossible to play well and wonder if the coach will be second guessing you. I just gave minor corrections.

Learning what needed to be perfect has been a huge help throughout my lifetime. Sometimes it’s important for things to be perfect. However, it’s often smart for me to forego perfection do to time constraints or other reasons. One of those reasons is my emotional wellbeing. Constantly chasing perfection means almost never being satisfied with my results. That in turn can be a very slippery slope which can easily transition into not being satisfied with myself. For me that’s a sad way to live.

The most important thing my Dad told me regarding perfection was, “There was only on perfect person and they crucified him.” He expected a lot from me, but he never expected me to be perfect. That was a lesson I was glad to pass on to my players. I can’t speak for them, but for me that has made all the difference.

May you have enough today, one moment at a time.