Dear Educator,

You likely have a project in your life, one which is never quite finished. You work on it, you think about it, and occasionally feel like you’ve reached a breakthrough. But when you push past the latest obstacle, you encounter something which makes you feel less than competent. Back to the drawing board, right?

This happens to everyone, and it is the great preventer of beneficial works. We pour time and effort into things we can’t seem to let it go. We become obsessed with perfection and, accordingly, always find more steps between us and completion. After all, we don’t want to create something which is broken, faulty, or just plain embarrassing.

“Have no fear of perfection; you’ll never reach it.”

Marie Curie

Perfection itself is nothing to be afraid of because it is unattainable. We will never know what it is like to hold perfection in our hands. Rather it is the fear of imperfection which hinders us. That fear is with us in every act of creation. Allowing that fear to control us does nothing but deprive the world of our unique talents.

So, like all impossible standards, let go of perfection. Remember that the most profound creations of human history are imperfect, and most of them were preceded by drafts and failed attempts. But those creations are part of our lives, our cultures, and our experience of the world. They exist because someone, somewhere, decided to look upon their imperfect work and call it complete.

Make it a great day, dear educator, and embrace imperfection.