EXCELLENCE VS PERFECTION

Excellence and perfection are two terms that have been greatly confused and usually used interchangeably, I have come to see that they are actually very different.  You must have heard statements like "that's an excellence job!", "you did a perfect job!".  Being an excellent person and a perfect person are two different things, very very different. 

Excellence is defined by Bamidele Jimoh ACA, as doing something consistently well over time.  It is doing something better than any other person.  It is a conscious effort to do something badly now because you want to eventually do it well.  It is striving to be the best in your service delivery and when that work is called for, the only person they will be thinking of is you.  Excellence entails practice, hard practice.

Perfection is defined as a state of total wholeness,flawlessness and complete in every detail.  I believe we as humans are striving towards perfection, but the truth is, we cannot get there...sorry, that may shock you, but it's the truth.  We cannot get to the point where we now say, we are totally perfect, the day you begin to see yourself as being perfect  that's the day you begin to nose-dive,deteriorate and decadence sets in.  You and I would agree that as humans we have our limitations...have you ever heard of the word " human error", "percentage error"?... there you go...that's the reason I said if you are looking to be Mr Perfect you are setting up yourself for dissappointment! 

Please, don't get me wrong but the truth is  there's always a better way of doing something or else why do we have World Records been broken at every olympics? Hmm? Why?  What you call perfect today would be rubbished by tomorow's astounding performance by someone else.  I know the Bible said "be ye perfect for I am perfect", am not disputing that, the scriptures cannot be broken, all am saying is what you call perfect today would become old glory by another wonderful achievement  by someone else.

So which cadre do you fit in?  The excellent guy/gal or the perfect guy/gal.  I'll go for excellence, ability to do things consistently well over time.  Be known for excellence...let it be your middle name!   See you at the top, remember, it's never crowded in the sky!

Recommended Reading: Overcoming The Enemy Called Average (John L. Mason)