I’ve always been a perfectionist in every sense of the word, striving for what I thought was “perfection” only to feel as if I’d fallen short of it every single time. My mom has always tried to teach me to not strive for perfection, but that was hard for me to understand. If I don’t strive for perfection, what’s the next best thing? It took me a long time to realize that perfection didn’t exist and last night I finally realized what to strive for instead – a perfect effort.
Last night I watched the movie “When the Game Stands Tall,” with my family. Initially I was drawn to it merely because it was about football and we all know how much I love that! One thing that really stood out to me though, over and over again in the movie was the idea of a “perfect effort.” During one of the pep talks in the movie the Coach says, “We’re not asking you to be perfect on every play. What we’re asking of you and what you should be asking of each other is to give a perfect effort from snap to whistle.”
Now, obviously I don’t play football, but this quote still felt really applicable to my everyday life. This quote reminded me of the importance of trying my best. Phrasing it as a “perfect effort” just put my perfectionist mindset at ease. If you give a perfect effort every time and try your absolute best, there is nothing you can ever feel bad about and nothing you can regret because you gave it everything you got.
So, remind yourself that life is not always about being perfect as long as you give everything a perfect effort.
P.S. In case you missed it on Saturday, Gracey, Sloane and I have relaunched the giveaway and it is now so much easier to enter! Use the widget in this post to enter to win 1 of 4 gift cards!
