Waiting for Perfection

I can't count the number of times I have started to type a blog post and decided not to do so because I couldn't think of just the "perfect" thing to say. What if they don't like it? What if it doesn't sound good? Those are the questions I found myself asking as I hit the backspace button for what seemed like the hundredth time. I learned something: if you always wait for the perfect word or the perfect timing you will miss wonderful opportunities.

What if Thomas Edison had given up because his first attempt to create a light bulb wasn't successful, what if Alexander Bell had been discouraged because it took multiple failures before the telephone actually worked, and what if Einstein had kept his Theory of Relativity to himself because he was afraid that other's would think that the theory was foolish? If those men had waited for perfection to drop down on them one day it is possible that you and I would be living without incandescent light, a telephone, and we would be clueless about the speed of light in a vacuum.

I write things that aren't perfect and I always will because I am human but I cannot let that stand in the way of saying what needs to be said. If I always hit the backspace key or click on the delete button I may find myself erasing an opportunity to say something that I should have shared. I shouldn't live my life waiting for the perfect sentence or the perfect topic to come to mind because when I do that I am essentially living in fear. Do you know what perfectionist fear? We fear failure.

Failure is a seven letter word and the number seven symbolizes perfection. In a sense that is what failure can help me to see-that often we fail before we succeed. I have resolved that the backspace button and I aren't going to be best friends any more and I have decided to stop waiting for perfection because if I sit here waiting for that perfect inspiration to rain upon me the chances of my ever having an impact upon the world doesn't exist.

Take your chances and say what needs to be said and do what needs to be done! Even if you fail ever time but once you will never regret failing if you have once succeeded.

"I would rather fail in a cause that will someday triumph than triumph in a cause that will someday fail."
-Woodrow Wilson