A pep talk for myself – and others who feel overwhelmed…
A Day in the Life by John Lennon begins, “I read the news today, oh boy…” I express the same thought just about every day. Sometimes I’m tempted to give up. “What’s the use?” many of us think. And it’s deeply discouraging to learn of so many young people who have lost faith. Not that I blame them. The news is not often encouraging. Scandals involving people we trusted. Lies and more lies by politicians and their handlers. Propagandists masquerading as journalists. Repeated abuses of power by public servants. Daily stories about this or that person going berserk and killing innocent people. I need not mention the inability of those in power to address real problems, other than the problem of getting themselves re-elected. There are days when many of us have a hard time getting out of bed. But we soldier on, hoping against the odds.
I was a “perfectionist” in grade school. I tore-up and threw away papers that had only a single mistake. My teacher and my parents eventually convinced me it was okay to use an eraser or cross-out a mistake rather than tear-up the whole page. It would have been dangerous to go through life so obsessed with perfection that I would be afraid to make mistakes. Anything we try comes with failures along the way. We can either learn from them and move on or get mad and toss them in the trash along with our joy – and our growth.
Voltaire wrote, “Perfect is the enemy of good.” We can seldom declare perfection for the win. The highest batting average for a single season is .394, which means that over 60% of the time, that batter did not score a hit. As a trumpet player, I’d say that my highest score for a single piece was never 100%. Even when the audience heard no mistakes, there was always something I could have done better. Any musician who says otherwise is either lying or is not serious about their craft. Yet, we still strive for perfection.
The problem comes when we demand perfection as a condition for success. I recently had a chat with a person who was having relationship conflicts. It seemed they wanted to find a way to fix everything all at once. I said it usually takes time for things to get bad, so we can expect it will take time to make them better again. We can’t realistically expect problems to be solved overnight. I recited Voltaire’s maxim and suggested that maybe we should be content with small improvements – perhaps moving the needle just a little in the positive direction each day.
If progress could be rated in stars, with one star meaning we are doing poorly – in essence, going backwards – and four or five stars meaning we are doing very well or extremely well, perhaps if we move from one star to two or three stars, we are making improvement. In other words, doing something is generally better than doing nothing. Doing a little good now is better than waiting for a chance to do a lot of good in the future. If a future opportunity opens, we can still do a lot of good, but until then, “Perfect is the enemy of good.”
I used to tell my college students, “sometimes done is better than good.” Late work often does not count towards a grade, just as failing to complete a project on time does not improve one’s chances of a raise or a promotion. Handing in an incomplete assignment at least earns some points, and a C or D is better than an F. Certainly passing the course is more important than “perfect” work. Often, the opportunity to do an outstanding job does not occur. But, the opportunity to do something happens every day. Larry, the Cable Guy, put it simply, “Get ‘er done.”
The news tempts us to say, “oh boy,” every day. Yet, the news is not all bad. If we look for the positive stories – people making scientific progress, investing in the future, doing outstanding work in their fields, selflessly acting to benefit others – we can see the needle moving in the right direction. The darkness only seems stronger than these achievements. It always has. There have always been wars and rumors of wars, narcissists and swindlers, murderers and bigots, and those who mock the common good. It has always been easy to give up on the future. Nevertheless, I’m reminded of these words: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overpowered it.” (John 1:5) Just as billions of points of light can conquer the darkness of the night sky, each of us can shine our little light in a dark world. The darkness can only win if we let it.
MurrayWorks 