Pobody's Nerfect
Last Thanksgiving I spent some time with my brothers, Lance and Adam. We shot pool, played Ping Pong and watched Ultimate Fighting Championship reruns. All that exertion must've put Adam in a philosophical mood, because he told us about a survey he read recently:
90% of the people over the age of 90 said that if they could live their lives over again, they’d do one thing differently—they’d take more risk. So, let’s learn something from our chronologically-gifted friends. Maybe they can’t live their lives over, but we’ve still got time to live ours. We can—and should—learn from their experience. Fear can be the biggest thing that keeps us from trying something new. Most of our fear usually comes from being self-conscious, worrying about what other people think. Even though we know that “nobody’s perfect”, we still feel like we ought to be. We’re afraid that others will think less of us if we blow it. (For instance, nobody seems to notice the 99.9% clean part of the floor, just the crumbs. And my boss at the shipyard had the uncanny ability to flip my inspection plans open to the exact page with the only line that wasn’t finished. Every time.) Good news: Resraechres at Cmabirgde Uinvrestiy fnuod taht the oderr ltteers are wtitren in deson’t mttaer as lnog as the frist and lsat ltteers are in the rhigt palce.
Ylou’l be albe to raed the wdros croerctly no mtetar how jmulbed the lteters are. It semes taht yuor barin dosne’t raed ecah lteter but sees the wolhe wrod at ocne! Even though I made several ‘mistakes’ typing those lines, you understood what I wrote. You got my meaning. As hard as it is to believe sometimes, other people’s brains usually fill in your gaps for you, too. We usually see your “whole word” at once.
So don’t worry about being perfect. We’re interested in what you have to say. We’re waiting for your unique contribution. But if you hold back, waiting to be perfect, you’ll turn 90 and wonder where your life went. Because you’ll never be perfect. But ‘excellent’ is fine by us. A big part of living enthused is growing and improving. Trying something new is always a little messy, but nothing in your life will ever be different unless you do something different. Don’t let fear—or fear of imperfection—keep you stuck. Take four minutes and write down a few goals for yourself. Then start working to make them happen. Take a few minutes each day to express gratitude for your life, your gifts and your journey. These are small steps, but can make a BIG difference in your life! Lnvinig Eshtuend, Dr. Vince
90% of the people over the age of 90 said that if they could live their lives over again, they’d do one thing differently—they’d take more risk. So, let’s learn something from our chronologically-gifted friends. Maybe they can’t live their lives over, but we’ve still got time to live ours. We can—and should—learn from their experience. Fear can be the biggest thing that keeps us from trying something new. Most of our fear usually comes from being self-conscious, worrying about what other people think. Even though we know that “nobody’s perfect”, we still feel like we ought to be. We’re afraid that others will think less of us if we blow it. (For instance, nobody seems to notice the 99.9% clean part of the floor, just the crumbs. And my boss at the shipyard had the uncanny ability to flip my inspection plans open to the exact page with the only line that wasn’t finished. Every time.) Good news: Resraechres at Cmabirgde Uinvrestiy fnuod taht the oderr ltteers are wtitren in deson’t mttaer as lnog as the frist and lsat ltteers are in the rhigt palce.
Ylou’l be albe to raed the wdros croerctly no mtetar how jmulbed the lteters are. It semes taht yuor barin dosne’t raed ecah lteter but sees the wolhe wrod at ocne! Even though I made several ‘mistakes’ typing those lines, you understood what I wrote. You got my meaning. As hard as it is to believe sometimes, other people’s brains usually fill in your gaps for you, too. We usually see your “whole word” at once.
So don’t worry about being perfect. We’re interested in what you have to say. We’re waiting for your unique contribution. But if you hold back, waiting to be perfect, you’ll turn 90 and wonder where your life went. Because you’ll never be perfect. But ‘excellent’ is fine by us. A big part of living enthused is growing and improving. Trying something new is always a little messy, but nothing in your life will ever be different unless you do something different. Don’t let fear—or fear of imperfection—keep you stuck. Take four minutes and write down a few goals for yourself. Then start working to make them happen. Take a few minutes each day to express gratitude for your life, your gifts and your journey. These are small steps, but can make a BIG difference in your life! Lnvinig Eshtuend, Dr. Vince
posted by Dr. Vince at Tuesday, May 02, 2006
<< Home