Abraham Maslow studied the greatest people of his generation—extraordinary humans like Albert Einstein and Eleanor Roosevelt.
These were truly great people who, in his words, had self-actualized and, in my words, had given their greatest gifts in greatest service to the world.
But here’s the deal.
These self-actualizing exemplars were NOT perfect.
Not even a single one of them.
Which is why Maslow said so unequivocally that there simply are NO perfect people. Movers and shakers? Yep. Truly great people? Yep. Perfect people? Not even one.
So…
Let’s keep that in mind as we pursue our own vision of optimizing and actualizing.
Again: There are no perfect humans.
And…
Newsflash: You will not be the first. :)
I personally find that fact incredibly comforting. I can turn the dial back from the perfectionist’s incessant need to be absolutely perfect all.the.time to an optimalist’s joyful embrace of the constraints of reality that allow me to enjoy this one precious life a whole lot more.
Oh. One more thing. The more comfortable you get with your own imperfections, the more accepting you’ll be of everyone else’s inevitable imperfections.
If you find yourself super annoyed by other people’s flaws that’s usually a really good sign that YOU need to chill out on your own self-criticism and revisit this +1.
So…
What little (or big) imperfection will you accept a little (or a lot) more today?
Have fun “needs work!”ing it, but let’s let go of the unrealistic and unattainable target of perfection.
As Rumi says, “There is no worse pretense than this pretense of perfection.”
And there’s such great joy in accepting those flaws and having fun Optimizing.
Let’s do that!!
Unlock this Heroic +1 (and over 1,000 more)!
Create your account to get more wisdom in less time. Personal development made simple so you can flourish in energy, work, and love. Today.
