Strive for Progress, Not Perfection

Nobody is perfect. It is something we have all heard thousands of time, but for some reason most of us ignore the phrase completely. I am one of them. Although I know that nobody is perfect, I strive for perfection on a daily basis, and lately I have realized that being a perfectionist, isn’t always perfect.

It all started at a very early age. In school we were taught that mistakes were bad. Mistakes were things marked with a red ink pen, and I learned to hate red ink pen. I never wanted to see red ink marked on my neatly written papers, so I worked hard, trying to make everything perfect. This “perfect’’ attitude is something I have carried with me my whole life.

I was only 456 hours in office when I was asked to pick a quote to live by this next year; a quote that had meaning to me, and could serve as a token to live out this next year while serving the 14,734 members of the Iowa FFA Association. I chose the quote “Strive for progress, not perfection.” This really stuck with me, and as the day went on, I thought more about it.

Too often we get caught up on the little things. We either over-dramatize mediocre things or underplay the most important. We take too long to do the simple things, taking time away from something with more meaning. Too often we get caught up trying to meet the needs of all the people around us that we don’t take care of ourselves. We may be perfectionists, but we need to be striving to make progress.

Perfection in itself is not a bad thing. A perfectionist is defined as a person who refuses to accept any standard short of perfection. If we don't strive to do something well and give the best possible result, then what's the point? Right?

We need to focus more on progress, rather than perfection. Progress is defined as the forward or onward movement toward a destination. One can move forward or onward, but without perfection, are they really moving forward in the right direction? It is all about finding a balance. I urge you to find the balance in your life, by striving for perfect progress.

Savannah Keitzer

Southeast State Vice President