Perfection.
The trick is to aim for it AND to know that actually attaining it is impossible.:) John Wooden and Tal Ben-Shahar articulate this process well.
“One must always strive to be better. The sky’s the
limit.”
~ Bruce Lee
First, Wooden. In Wooden (see Notes), he tells us: “Perfection is what you are striving for, but perfection is an impossibility. However, striving for perfection is not an impossibility. Do the best you can under the conditions that exist. That is what counts.”
Got it.
Now, Tal Ben-Shahar. In his GREAT book The Pursuit of Perfect (see Notes and if you’re a perfectionist and haven’t read it yet, PLEASE do!:), Tal differentiates between a traditional “perfectionist” and an “optimalist.”
The key difference, essentially, is that the optimalist deals with the reality that they’ll NEVER be perfect. They see that their ideals are much more like guiding stars than distant shores.
I can personally never get enough of this wisdom, so let’s check it out one more time: “Psychologists today differentiate between positive perfectionism, which is adaptive and healthy, and negative perfectionism, which is maladaptive and neurotic. I regard these
two types of perfectionism as so dramatically different in both their underlying nature and their ramifications that I prefer to use entirely different terms to refer to them. Throughout this book, I will refer to negative perfectionism simply as perfectionism and to positive perfectionism as optimalism.”
Plus: “Perfectionism and optimalism are not distinct ways of being, an either- or choice, but rather they coexist in each person. And while we can move from perfectionism toward
optimalism, we never fully leave perfectionism behind and never fully reach optimalism ahead. The optimalism ideal is not a distant shore to be reached but a distant star that guides us and can never be reached. As Carl Rogers pointed out, ‘The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction, not a destination.’”
So, here’s to rockin’ our optimalism and remembering that the good life is a DIRECTION, not a destination!:)
HOW CAN I BE ME?
| “When I look around, I always learn something and that is to be always yourself. And to express | |||
| yourself. Do not go out and look for a successful person and duplicate it which seems to me to | |||
| be the prevalent thing happening in Hong Kong. Like they always copy mannerisms, but they’ll | |||
| never start from the very root of his being, which is “how can I be me?” ” | |||
Love that.
“Persistence, persistence, and persistence. The Power can be created and maintained through daily practice — continuous
effort.”
~ Bruce Lee
Here’s a question to live with: “How can I be me?”
Seriously. How can you be you?
What are you doing that’s getting in the way of you REALLY being you? How are you pretending to be someone other than who you *really* are?
What’s at the root of your being that needs a little more expression? Get on that!
P.S. As you do that, remember Leo Buscaglia’s wisdom: “You are the best you. You will always be the second best anyone else.”
P.P.S. Keep this Oscar Wilde gem in mind as well: “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”
:)
THERE IS ONLY SELF-HELP
| “I have come to discover through earnest personal experience and dedicated learning that | ||
| ultimately the greatest help is self-help; that there is no other help but self-help — doing one’s | ||
| best, dedicating one’s self whole-heartedly to a given task, which happens to have no end but is | ||
—> “Ultimately the greatest help is self-help.”
Powerful stuff.
“Be a practical dreamer backed by action”
~ Bruce Lee
Samuel Smiles, in the 19th century classic on self-help appropriately called “Self-Help” (see Notes:), puts it this way: “Human character is moulded by a thousand subtle influences; by example and precept; by life and literature; by friends and neighbours; by the world we live in as well as by the spirits of our forefathers, whose legacy of good words and deeds we inherit. But great, unquestionably, though these influences are acknowledged to be, it is nevertheless equally clear that men must necessarily be the active agents of their own well-being and well- doing; and that, however much the wise and the good may owe to others, they themselves must in the very nature of things be their own best helpers.”
And, gotta love the way Will Bowen shares this truth in his great book A Complaint-Free World (see Notes) where he tells us: “We are, every one of us, already creating our lives all the time. The trick is to really take the reigns and steer the horse to where we want to go, rather than where we do not. Your life is a movie written by, directed by, produced by, and starring—you guessed it—YOU! We are all self-made. When asked about “self-made millionaires,” Earl Nightingale, the twentieth-century motivational master and philosopher, once quipped, “We are all self-made, but only the successful will admit it.””
We’re all self-made, my friend.
Here’s to living our deepest truths and creating a life we’re proud of!
Brian Johnson,
Chief Philosopher
|
BRUCE LEE
Bruce Lee studied gung fu in Hong Kong under the legendary master Yip Man. After attending the University of Washington as a philosophy major, Lee established a gung fu studio in Oakland, CA, in 1964, to teach the art he later
named jeet kune do. From a young age, and throughout his seven-year television and film career, he wrote prodigiously on all topics that attracted his interest— particularly philosophy. He died of cerebral edema in Hong Kong at the age of 32. John Little is the world’s foremost authority on the life and work of Bruce Lee, his training methods, and his philosophy. (from the book)
About the Author of This Note
BRIAN JOHNSON
Brian Johnson is a lover of wisdom (aka a “Philosopher”) and a passionate student of life who’s committed to inspiring and empowering millions of people to live their greatest lives as he studies, embodies and shares the universal truths of optimal living. He harts his job.