56 - Perfection Is An Impossibility

UCLA coach John Wooden said: “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.”

​In today’s episode I will break down the quote the the legendary UCLA basketball coach, John Wooden.

If you’re a regular listener to the podcast, then you might have noticed that I’ve mentioned this particular quote in at least a couple other episodes.  I really love the essence of this quote.  I’d say it is in my top 3 favorite quotes of all time.

But, why do I love it so much? 

Well, let me tell you why by starting off with the first part of the quote.  “Perfection is what you are striving for, but perfection is an impossibility.”  Do you believe this?  Is there really such a thing as “perfection?”  I don’t think so.  I believe that we can get extremely close to a perfect business, for example, but perfection is truly not attainable.  

But, this is not why I love it.  I love it because right off the start it gives us a sense - or, at least it should - that we should always be striving for perfection and the fact that perfection is not attainable must keep us consistent with our efforts to attain it.  Knowing that we should strive to develop a perfect business will keep us working towards that point every day - and, because perfection is not attainable, we must constantly stay on the up and up with our business.  This is where the second part of the quote kicks in.

“Striving for perfections is not an impossibility.”

If you constantly are striving for perfection (even though perfection is an impossibility), then guess what, your business will be top notch compared to those businesses who get comfortable being good enough.  You must always strive for perfection.  This is not an impossibility and if you don’t strive for it, well it’s just you getting in the way.  

There truly is NO reason why you shouldn’t strive to be the best.  Every.  Single.  Day.

Finally, the last part of the quote states: “Do the best that you can under the conditions that exist.  That is what counts.”

I always tell my kids whenever they tell me how a test went at school: did you try your best?  Did you study the most that you could?  And, many times they tell me: “yes, I did.”  And, I tell them, well, even if you got a grade that you weren’t expecting, you know what counts? The fact that you know you tried your best.  And, that is what truly counts, you guys.

Try your best.  Every time.  

Your best is your best.  Don't’ compare yourself with another business owner.  Do the best that you can under the conditions that exist … for you.  If at the end of the day, your customer database is not as big as you’d like it to be and if you know you tried your best that day, then don’t be hard on yourself.  If you know you tried your best, then let it be.  Live with the satisfaction knowing that sometimes things don’t end up as  you’d like them to be - but, that you tried your best.  This is what counts.  If at the end of the day, you lost a customer even though you know you tried your best, then don’t fret.  Put more emphasis on your effort.  And, again, if you know you tried your best, then that’s all that counts.

Wash.  Rinse.  Repeat.

That’s it for today!  Let me know what you thought about today’s episode in the comments section or send me a message on any of my social media accounts!

I wish you an excellent weekend!  And, I’ll catch you on the next episode!

---

Before you leave, remember to follow me on my social media accounts!

---

One more thing!

Have you subscribed to the podcast, yet? 

If not, you can do so on your favorite podcast platform.  I'll leave the links below. 

​Thank you so much and have a great day!

iTunes
​Stitcher
Spotify 
​Google Play ​