virgin islands scene

Great minds have purposes, others have wishes.
-- Washington Irving
 

 

Tuesday, December 22, 1998

Persist toward perfection

Perfection is a worthy goal which we can only hope to reach through accepting imperfection. In order to get it exactly right, you must be willing to repeatedly get it wrong. Success is achieved only by accepting the very real possibility of defeat.

It is highly unlikely that you’ll ever get anything right on the first attempt. Or the second, third, or fourth. Achievement is a process of continual learning and improvement. Those who come closest to perfection are those who have experienced the most imperfection.

In order to find your dream house, you must look through a lot of not-so-dreamy homes. In order to find the ideal employee, you must interview a lot of less-than-ideal candidates for the job. In order to find a valuable customer, you must sift through many prospects.

To move toward perfection, requires traveling through imperfection. The longer you persist, the closer you will get.

— Ralph Marston

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Copyright ©1998 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. All Rights Reserved. The Daily Motivator is provided for your personal, non-commercial use only. Other than personal sharing, please do not re-distribute without permission.