‘When perfect is not perfect enough’ - part 2

                                                                         PART TWO

                                                                                                                                                                          
......In the past, I have been guilty of striving for perfection when submitting work or potentially missing deadlines even when I know there is nothing more to add.

As a young writer, you can also face this problem when writing an article. Your editor constantly reminds you that your work only needs to be ‘workable’ as it is up to editors or sub – editors to decide on how the final version will look. Yet, you slave away at night producing at that ‘perfect’ piece, totally exhausted by the end.

I often wonder about why people feel the need to be perfect. Some dwell too much on their past mistakes and try to make the present a place where nothing can go wrong. Others are and remain anxious about their future and so their whole life is built around creating a selection of perfect anecdotes along the way.

If perfectionism is controlled and is present in only one part of your life, that is not a bad thing. Say that you decide you want to be better at creating suspense and so you spend more time in your novel doing so, reworking it until it is perfect. Eventually, readers will be hooked on the novel you wrote because of the effort spent on creating tension within your plot.

However, I believe that even if you aim for being perfect in everything you do, it will not last forever and the initial spark slowly dies after each event or project has ended.

“There is always going to be someone who can do as well or even better than you,” I said to Kia. “It’s inevitable.”

“I know,” she had said. “That’s why I push myself to beat myself because I am not competing with anyone else but myself. The only performances that matters are mines because that’s the only thing I can control. 


I look at people that have strived for what they want with admiration because they have paved the way so I can do the same and I want to pave the way for someone else so I can’t accept defeat because my goal is to be a part of the history of change.”

For me, it all began with my parents. Coming from an Asian background, I was taught that I should do well, no matter what the cost. When I was younger and living in India, I was always pushed to get higher grades than others and when I failed to get the grades that another did manage to get, I was made to feel bad about it. 


Not that I was a bad student. I won certificates for my academic school life and was in charge of tutoring other students. But, I never understood that I should just be happy with my academic potential rather than striving to be a bigger brainiac.

It was something that I knew, in my heart of hearts, could not be achieved. 

And I am not alone in this perfectionism battle. Take famous sportspeople like Tiger Woods and Andre Agassi.

Tiger Woods who has recently been in the papers for other reasons had to practice his golf skills tirelessly when he was younger whilst his dad trained him to perform under any situation. Most of his childhood was spent in training Tiger in the area of mental toughness which paid off. One could say that Tiger Woods would have not turned into the golfing champion he is today, without the preparation taken by his father.

                                                                            

Andre Agassi’s father took the tennis training challenge even further by building a ball machine for a young Agassi which he then used to practice his tennis serve. No wonder he holds the record for the strongest return serves in tennis history today!

But one cannot help wondering whether the two celebrities especially Woods has had their childhood cut short by the demanding regimes. Emotionally, they were meant to act like adults. In place of the freedom to act as normal children would, at that age, there were strict goals to follow which they should have not been subjected to.

“The only thing, I never feel the need to push is my writing ability,” Kia says.

“Whenever I write, I just feel that’s it... it’s almost like...like...magic...I can never explain it...sometimes I dream the world I am creating like it really exist..I don’t need to think, it’s like my hands just knows what to write...it’s automated....it’s like I have seen that world before...”

So how did I try and break out of my bubble? I came to London of course and discovered that there was much more to life than simply ‘studying perfection’. I wanted to have a laugh, wanted to go to concerts and clubs with my friends and most of all, I wanted to enjoy myself without feeling the pressure to be perfect.

Best selling British broadcaster and author, Simon Winchester admits that the process of writing is never perfect, no matter how much you want it to be.  

He said, “Whenever I begin a book I set the [word] counter with the start date, the number of words to write, the contract date and a very simple calculation- the number of words needed each day to meet the deadline. One hundred days, 100,000 words: 1000 words each day is the initial goal. But things change: the writing life is imperfect, however noble the intentions. Some days are good and maybe I’ll write 1500 words, while others are much less satisfactory and, for a variety of reasons, I may write virtually nothing. So be it.”

                                                                                                                                         

So there you have it. Being perfect is not always as important as enjoying life and living for the present. So until next time, keep writing and give yourself a break, sometimes...