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200 words, Act, afraid, courage, Diana Schwenk, Diana's Enormous Book of Quotes, Fear, growth, learning, mistakes, perfection, striving, struggles
“Show us a man who never makes a mistake and we will show you a man who never makes anything.” ~ H. L. Wayland
“I love you mom.”
“You know what’s boring?” I asked not hearing what my daughter said.
“When someone loves you back?” she replied sarcastically.
“What?!”
“I just said I love you! And YOU asked about what’s boring.”
We burst out laughing. Both my daughter and I are slightly ADD, it’s not unusual for either one of us to get lost in our thoughts and not hear what the other said.
“So…what’s boring mom?”
“Perfection,” I replied, still laughing, wiping the tears away.
~
Imagine a world where everything is perfect, a world without flaws, no touch-ups needed, no mistakes, no learning, no room to grow, no reason to strive for anything, no appreciation and bewildered joy when something beautiful happens.
And yet we are obsessed with doing everything right the first time. So we work toward perfection, afraid to implement until every i is dotted and every t is crossed before we act, often not acting at all. And then we teach our children to do the same.
~ DIANA’S ENORMOUS BOOK OF QUOTES ~
talktodiana 
WONDERFUL POST!!! You know how anti-perfection I am so this one was right up my alley. Love your daughter, too. I adore her sense of humor and ability to giggle in the best moment for it! You are both awesome!
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Aww thanks my dear! She is an amazing person to me!
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Just like her mama. 🙂
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🙂
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I have made more than my share of mistakes in this lifetime, but, you know, remorse and regret over them will get me absolutely nowhere. Besides, some of those mistakes had beautiful consequences. Looking back, I realize I wouldn’t want to change a thing. Thanks for helping me reaffirm that.
“Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.” – John Lennon
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That’s the quote I was looking for – thank you! Yes I agree with you on not changing a thing. There’s been some rough spots, for sure, but I wouldn’t change anything – after all, it’s brought me to this point. 🙂
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Perfectly imperfect! I love that exchange – priceless 🙂
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Thanks Lorri – we have many such conversations. 🙂
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Can’t imagine a perfect world. I don’t suppose the words adventure, experiment, discovery, exploration, creativity, imagination (and so the list seems endless) would exist with the definitions that we know them to have. Imperfection gives us journeys to travel and meanderings rather than simply A to B.
I guess, looking around my office right now.. if this world were perfect, I wouldn’t fit in.. too much of a mess around here – better procrastinate some and tidy up rather than focus on my work lol 😛
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What a great way to look at it (using those words and wondering how they might be defined in a perfect world)
Regarding your desk: we all have our own filing systems and I’ve known many folks who can find exactly what they need, when they need it on seemly disorganized offices!
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True true. I did once have a floor filling system. I try my best to keep things elevated nowadays. It was very organised though mind you 😉
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and I bet you knew where everything was!
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Beautifully said ❤
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Thanks Alicia!
xo
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I want to meet someone who can say they make no mistakes… I make them almost daily… like getting up in the morning, specially when it’s cold like this morning… and why do I get up? For a cigarette… now that’s a mistake…
Love that interaction with your daughter… often when people ask “how are you?”.. I will answer “sick”… you’ll be surprised how many will answer “that’s good”.. they haven’t heard what I said…. LOL
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haha we are conditioned to answer fine and that’s what people expect to hear!
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Yes perfection would be boring not that I have ever perfected anything but I imagine it would be boring I am also not sure if I would know boring if it hit me in the face since I don’t get bored………..
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I’m hoping the reason you don’t get bored is more about attitude than it is about being overwhelmed!
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Interesting Diana. The conversation on mistakes made me think of something Dan Pallotta said in his excellent TED talk about rethinking charity “when you prohibit failure you kill innovation”. Mistakes are necessary on the path to the biggest success.
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Hi Cassandra! Dan Pallotta is a favourite of mine as well!
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Yes, he’s a combo of smart, courageous, and compassionate. We need more of those in the world!
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sounds like you may be one of the “more of those” in this world! 😉
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Awww, that’s a very sweet compliment. Thank you. I think you might be one of them too 🙂
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🙂
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I accidentally liked your post as Wake Forest Museum, which is a new site I’m setting up for work and failed to log out of before checking my mail and visiting your blog. So now I need to comment as me… and you will see just how “not perfect” I am!
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Love it Jennifer! A like is a like in my books and I’ll take it!
xo
Diana
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I must be the least boring person on earth if that is the measure (lol)
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haha! Hoping your life is full of joy and action!
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I am so with you on this … imperfections make us unique and every moment special … perfection is just a facade
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(smiling) Maybe they add a bit of adventure and fun as well!
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good points — we sometimes spend time and effort on unimportant details – and miss the fun
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Still wanting to put the word fun in my vision or mission statement somehow!
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One additional thought: That perfection isn’t attainable doesn’t mean it’s not a good goal. We should shoot for perfection in all things, but not get too stressed out when we miss the mark. As you mention above, knowing that to error is human is no excuse for being willfully ignorant or sloppy.
Always strive for perfection!
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I often strive for good enough! 😉
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I’ve heard of the concept, this “good enough” business, but I’ve had a hard time wrapping my head around it. 😕
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What I really mean to say by good enough is that it works, it accomplishes what I set out to do and I act on it instead of leaving it on the drawing board. 🙂 I used to tell my financial accountant friends that theirs was the only job that could be done perfectly. The numbers balance. I can go back and look at anything I’ve done months and years later and edit/change it. 🙂
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Forced to the choice, totally agree, I’ll take action over perfection every time!
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🙂
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Thomas Watson, Jr., CEO and founder of IBM in the USA was really big on the importance of mistakes and he spoke about it often (quotes by him are littered with the idea). The most pithy quote is simply, “The way to succeed is to double your error rate.” That seems almost heretical in an age that seeks to minimize errors (“Six Sigma” is all about that). A longer one goes, “It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You’re thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn’t at all.”
He was also big on taking action, because nothing happens if you sit still. My favorite Watson quote, the one I had hanging in my cube for decades, goes, “Solve it. Solve it quickly, solve it right or wrong. If you solve it wrong, it will come back and slap you in the face, and then you can solve it right.”
The guy had some great quotes! Another favorite, “Follow the path of the unsafe, independent thinker.”
This is the guy who built IBM, so he might have a clue or two about success!
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Great quotes Smitty, I like the solve one a lot hahaha!
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I agree–I tend to think that the most important thing is just keep moving ahead, and that a tendency toward perfection can create roadblocks.
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As soon as I hit publish I thought oh I hope people don’t misread this post and take it to mean just put your sloppiest non-efforts out there, but so far no one is, I like your roadblock illustration Sheryl!
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You’re right, there is a middle ground between sloppiness and perfection that is the best place to be.
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I’d rather act with something that works than leave something in the theory phase, hoping for that perfect solution.
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LOVE that quote.
Plenty of mistakes made over this way 🙂
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And that’s why you’re so learned! 🙂
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Ah. I take your point (and your compliment).
That must mean you have made some mistakes too. 🙂
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yes you betcha!
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Well, I have got four beautiful ‘mistakes’ I can be proud of, so where would I be without them?
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What are your beautiful mistakes?
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Ah! The things one writes after a hard day and night and finding oneself still awake at 2 am!
I think I was referring to the fact that, although married for six years, our firstborn was not exactly planned. Thus, a turnaround in life that I would not swap for the world.
So i guess I was meaning that sometimes we do not plan things and they happen anyway. And sometimes those unplanned things not only turn out well, they are for the best things for us, for who we really are inside.
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What’s that saying? Something like life happens anyway while you’re planning…
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Yes, this is SO true 🙂
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