Our culture holds perfection in very high regard. Perfection is often expected, even demanded, in professional performance, as well as in personal conduct. Any path to success must bear no marks of errors in judgment, unreasonable slipups, and general faux pas. Professional mistakes are regularly the primary reason for demotion and dismissal. In the age of information, mistakes are rarely forgotten and are easily found. They may follow one’s life and career for years, even decades after they were made. Never forget, never forgive.
To what extent one can go to create a perfect product, an unblemished career, a spotless record? Is that level of performance practical? How much tolerance may be considered reasonable? How far back is it reasonable to look at a record and after how long, if ever, can a mistake be expunged?
The topic of errors came up during a conversation I had with a dear friend and artistic collaborator about book publishing. Her team spent a great deal of time and effort on finding and correcting errors in a book they recently published. Still, the published edition appears to have a few errors that were missed in the editing process.
I was reminded of the Hebrew phrase טעות לעולם חוזר (ta-ut le-o-lam cho-zer), “errors and omissions excepted” in its common legal use, or the “to err is human” proverb. As earthly humans, we are made imperfect. Only the divine is without fault, and trying to become perfect is blasphemous. We try to do good, to lead an exemplary life, but some flaws may exist in anything that we accomplish. Many legal documents, invoices, and other publications in Hebrew bear the abbreviation טל”ח as a reminder to all that any error found is a sign of humanity.
Another phrase from the field of engineering states that a project may wish to achieve 97% success. Trying to reach 100% will cause the project to overrun its schedule and exceed its budget. In other words, that 3% difference will take three times as long to finish and cost three times as much.
If we expect perfection from ourselves, it would be easy to expect it from others. This may impact personal relationships and professional associations. Demanded without reason, perfection is a goal which limits are dangerous and costly. The keyword here is ‘reason’, and it should not open the door for any excuses to lower the bar. It enables projects, goals, and relationships to be reached and thrive within affordable borders. Expecting absolute perfection from your coworkers, your friends, kids, and spouse may only lead to tension and cause cracks in what weaves you together. Save perfection to the gods. Here on Earth, life is hard enough as it is.