Monday, July 30, 2007

Aim At Perfection In Everything

“The search for perfection begins with detecting imperfection

Will you not make very sure that there is no fault before you accept a brand new car?

Similarly, I believe most people will never be satisfied after paying a hefty price for a musical show and find that certain part of the show have audio defect. Am I right?


What You'd Get if 99% Were Good Enough
  • No phone service for 15 minutes each day.
  • 1.7 million pieces of first class mail lost each day.
  • 35,000 newborn babies dropped by doctors or nurses each year
  • 200,000 people getting the wrong drug prescriptions each year
  • Unsafe drinking water three days a year.
  • Three misspelled words on the average page of type.
  • 2 million people would die from food poisoning each year.
(Source: Internet; Author: Unknown)

It has become an accepted statement to excuse ourselves by saying, "After all, nobody's perfect."

“They say that nobody is perfect. Then they tell you practice makes perfect. I wish they'd make up their minds.” - Winston Churchill

“This is the very perfection of a man, to find out his own imperfections.” - Saint Augustine

“There is such a thing as perfection... and our purpose for living is to find that perfection and show it forth.... Each of us is in truth an unlimited idea of freedom. Everything that limits us we have to put aside.” - Richard Bach

Aim at perfection in everything, though in most things it is unattainable. However, they who aim at it, and persevere, will come much nearer to it than those whose laziness and despondency make them give it up as unattainable.” - Lord Chesterfield


Even though, it can be more stressful but each day we must continually strive to do a little better than the day before. What do you think?

"Perfection consists not in doing extraordinary things, but in doing ordinary things extraordinarily well." - Angelique Arnauld

Photo 1 by Marius!! taken from this source
Photo 2 by cloud_nine taken from this source

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14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good Post. Nobody is perfect but you strive to be perfect in doing ordinary things extraordinary.

Jennifer Jones said...

Hi Sam,

I think of perfection, not as some ultimate state but in shining forth the beauty that it within us, however that manifests!

Sort of like... bringing to life the most of ourselves... if that makes any sense! :-)

Nice thoughts Sam,

Jen

Sam Chan said...

Thanks Honman!

You are right.. nobody is perfect except God. However, a person who strive to be perfect, will get excellence result. A person who strive to be excellent, may get an good result whereas one who strive to be good, may only get an average result.

Thanks for your thoughts!
I really value your participation. Best Wishes

Sam Chan said...

Hey Jennifer..
So so true!, shining forth the beauty that is within us actually is the kind of perfection one should attain - making the best of whatever one have!

Many thanks for adding your insightful thoughts to my post.

Best Wishes

Tawnya Shields said...

This was an eye-opening post. Being human though we can only strive but in all reality can not perfect in this state.
Great post.

surjit singh said...

...Aim at perfection in everything, though in most things it is unattainable...,
Yo are right Sam,in your views expressed above.We must always strive to do our best to attain at least near perfection.
A good motivating post.Best wishes.

Sam Chan said...

Hi Titania,

The Bible in Matthew 5:48 says:
"Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect."

In Matthew 19:26... "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

Very very true, being human by human means nothing perfect can be attained. Nevertheless, we still ought to strive to be perfect.

Thanks for adding your insightful views. I really value your participation.

Best Wishes

Sam Chan said...

Hi Surjit,
Thanks for your kind support and encouragement! It means a lot!

Best Wishes

Anonymous said...

Sam, I have to agree and yet disagree with you at the same time.

In truth, there is no such thing as perfection. Perfection is but a perception. He who strives for "Perfection" can end an utterly miserable man.

I agree however that we should do the best in everything we do. We don't need to be perfect. We just need to know that when we draw our last breath, we have nothing to be regretful about.

I wrote an article on happiness and it is somewhat related to this post. Feel free to have a look if you don't mind:
10 Secrets to Happiness I learnt from Andrew Matthews

Sam Chan said...

Hi SJ,
Thanks for your insight and wisdom!

Indeed, perfection is but a perception. Anyway, it still depends very much on how we look at the word "Perfect". In a competition, we can hear statement like "This contestant has the perfect score!"

Well, the emphasis in this post is the word "Aim". Without this in mind, nobody can achieve excellent results. All will then stop improving and progress further. The very reason why Olympic winners could break world records was because they know that can still do better! Anyway, one must learn to be happy and continue to do even better whenever there is opportunity.

Thanks for sharing the links about Happiness! Andrew Matthews is a great author! I liked his book too!

Best Wishes

mr fong said...

HI SAM! :)

The Perfect One

Jacqueline said...

It is so hard to face the fact that while striving to be more perfect, it also means having to admit face the things in ourselves that are like splinters/planks in our own lives. That's what I've been learning. I have been facing all that needs improvement, and it's just a matter of taking it one day at a time, and relying on God's strength to help me through! God bless!

Sam Chan said...

Hi Mr Fong,
Thank you for stopping by...

Well, I'm not the perfect one! :-)

Sam Chan said...

Hi Jacqueline,
Very very true, striving to be more perfect means having to know one imperfections, then make the necessary change (repent)

Till we have decided to change, we will forever be the same. God will grant us strength if we are willing to seek help from Him!

God bless you and your family!