Lots of people say that perfection isn’t possible. And since it’s not possible, even thinking about striving for it is unrealistic at best, and demoralizing at worst. That instead of striving for perfection, we should choose attainable and realistic targets. Problem with this, in my view, is that if we don’t even allow ourselves the possibility of thinking that we can attain the (possibly) unattainable, then we’re setting ourselves up to start with an “I can’t”. And if we start with an “I can’t”, we’ve already stifled our creativity. Whether we’re working on a quality, safety or service problem at work – or to perfect our cooking skills at home – constantly striving to attain perfection motivates us to actively search for creative new ways to do things, to find the ways “we can”, not focus on why we can’t. And, as Henry Ford so famously said, “Whether you think you can, or whether you think you can’t, you’re right!”
