Perfect Is My Least Favourite Word

For the first 30 years of my life, perfection was the standard.

As a goaltender, giving up more than two goals felt like failure. As a student, A's or nothing. At university, the Dean's List became the expectation.

On the surface, that sounds like ambition.

In reality, it was perfectionism disguised as discipline.

The problem with perfection is that it teaches you to judge yourself almost entirely by outcomes. And when life eventually becomes bigger than what you can control — as it always does — you're not prepared.

I spent more time looking for explanations than lessons.

This week Curtis Scaplen writes about what shifted, why failure is the price of admission for a meaningful life, and what it actually means to adopt a next-play mentality.