Imperfect

’You are imperfect, permanently and inevitably flawed. And you are beautiful’.  - Amy Bloom

All of us want to be the best or the second best. Similarly, when we build our team, we seek for perfection. But an obsession with perfection is detrimental. It makes us unable to accept our mistakes, other people’s mistakes and unable to accept untoward events that happen in life.

In ‘Don’t sweat the Small Stuff’; Richard Carlson suggests ‘making peace with imperfection’. A vicious cycle begins when instead of conceding the error; we engulf into guilt and berate ourselves. Otherwise, we refuse ownership of the mistake and enter a state of denial, possibly blaming someone else. Neither of these states is helpful in correcting or preventing the recurrence of the error.

The fact is, we will err, and often we will err repeatedly. We must be patient and calmly note the reasons for the mistake, and simply try to avoid it in the future. Making peace with imperfection extends to others as well. It is unreasonable to expect perfection from our colleagues, particularly given our own lack of perfection.

It is pertinent to note that life is imperfect. Things go wrong. We must learn to accept such things. The world is imperfect, we are imperfect, but that need not stop us from being happy. Happiness comes when we come to terms with our own imperfections and those of others.

Happiness comes from courage to accept…

That like we are.... others too are imperfect!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India.