When I was struggling last fall with ‘less than stellar’…to say the least…grades in ‘Economics for Policy Analysis’, one of my professors put things in perspective for me by saying, “If you are achieving constant perfection throughout a process of any sort, that process is not a true challenge for you. Life is so much more rewarding, if there are true challenges. You’ve hit a true challenge at this time. During a true challenge, perfection along the way is the not goal. The goal is steady improvement with each step of the process. You are ‘trending upward’. Don’t waste time and emotion in worrying about the lack of perfection you are seeing. You need that energy to methodically trend upward through the process.”

I’m amazed by how many times this comment has popped into my head since I first heard it. I believe those few sentences are doing more to ‘rewire’ my brain than all of the time and effort I’ve expended in struggling with my ‘perfectionism’ throughout the years. What a major impact…and the professor probably doesn’t even remember the incident. You never know how deep a footprint you leave as you walk along your path.