So many people who wrestle with perfection never get to excellence. Is that you?
Well, maybe you’d say, no Chris, I’m a failure, not a perfectionist. It’s ironic, but failure is closer to excellence than you might think, and perfection is actually farther away!
Excellence is one of our core values, and it’s the goal that we shoot for all the time. But, as much as we talk about it, we don’t hit the mark every single time. At times, we do fail.
Which brings up this question, asked by one of our clients recently. And maybe you’re struggling with the same question: Is excellence the same as perfection?
Well, they can be easy to confuse … especially when you don’t understand failure. Which brings us to our topic today. We want to distinguish excellence from perfection.
And, that means that we need to define failure first. On today’s episode, we’ll dig into what separates perfection from excellence, and see where failure comes into the mix.
If you’re a perfectionist, this episode is for you. If you feel like you’re a failure, this is for you. If you have a heart to do things with excellence, either in your personal life or in business…
You guessed it, this episode is for you!
507 | Perfection vs. Excellence
Chris LoCurto 0:00
On today's show, take a fresh look at the difference between perfection and excellence, as well as how failure affects both that is coming up next.
Welcome to the Chris LoCurto show where we discuss leadership and life and discover that business is what you do, not who you are. Welcome to the show, folks, I hope you're having a fabulous day, wherever you are. We talk a lot on the show about excellence, we talk a lot about it around our business, we talk a lot about it. At events everywhere, we talk a lot about excellence. And we've got a whole episode or episodes dedicated to the topic. For example, if you go back to Episode 425, you're gonna get a lot of excellence. Excellence is one of our core values. Now, we don't have a lot of corporate-sounding core values. But there are a couple that we do have. And excellence is always going to be one of those why it's vitally important to us. It's something that we shoot for all the time. But as much as we talk about it, we don't hit the mark every single time, at times, we do fail. This brings up this question asked by one of our clients recently, maybe you've had the same question. The question was, is excellence the same as perfection, while they can be easily confused, especially when you don't understand failure? And I know, it appears as though we really understand failure. But if you take my version of it, I think there's a better understanding of it, which is it's not all bad, right? So that's what brings up our topic. Today, we want to distinguish between excellence and perfection. And that means that we need to define failure first. So when we come back, breaking down the failure so that we can strive for excellence. Folks, if you've been listening to me for any length of time, then you know, the number one issue when it comes to business when it comes to the family when it comes to friendships, is having a lack of high-quality communication, to make sure that you are absolutely winning in every aspect of your life, it all starts with having great communication, the best way to get that communication is to understand your personality style, and to understand the personality style of the folks that you're spending the most time with, whether it be at work, whether it be at home, the best way to do that is to go to Chris a crypto.com/store. And get your personality profile and personality profiles for your team to date.
Get it for your family members. Today, as you go through that profile, you will begin to see the greatest ways to communicate go to Crystal crypto.com/store today. Okay, so let's talk about failure. This is one of my favorite topics. And the reason why is again, like I said, on the front side of the show that most people think of failure is always being negative. You know, it's the elephant in the room for so many people because it's the thing that they're fearing the most, right? It's a big fear. What if I fail at this? What if something goes wrong? What if something bad happens, right? And so before we can deconstruct perfectionism, and finally get to excellence, we've got to start with some laws to help us to really understand failure. All right, so we're gonna hit a couple of laws here. And the first one is one that I take from Zig Ziglar. And I just think it's fabulous. So law number one is, failure isn't a person. All right, so it's not who you are. So do yourself a favor and stop identifying with it.
I cannot tell you how many people we work with that are so afraid of failing, and many are afraid of failing us. We have clients afraid of failing us. We're here for the client. The client is not here for us. We're here for you guys. Right? Our goal is to help you to get to the best version of you the best business whatever sort of fear of failing us is just it's, it's crazy. Why? Because it's so inundated in somebody's mind that instead of focusing on what's healthy for them, and the things that they can do and the ways that they can grow, and the ways that they can fix things and change. It's so inundated that it becomes a concern of failing even those that are there to help them. Do them. And that you start rehearsing your failures, mentally, they start becoming tied to your identity. Think about that. When failure gets rooted in your identity, then you're setting yourself up for even more failure. And I don't just mean some failure, it becomes like a self-fulfilling prophecy. It's something that's going to happen at that point, right? But here's the great thing. Failure is an indicator, it's a metric that you can use to measure Thomas Edison said, I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work. Think about that. How many of us, fail one time, and we're done? And as far as Edison saw it, he kept going, because he hadn't figured out the thing yet. He wanted to discover how to make that light bulb work. Right? He wasn't just giving up on his failures. He wasn't a failure. He was saying these are things that haven't worked yet, and at some point, I'm going to get to success. What a fabulous way of looking at failure right now, the word failure comes from the 17th-century Anglo-Norman French and it means a non-occurrence. It was related to a cessation of supply or production. So in other words, failure is a non-result, a non-production, a non-completion, it's an action or a series of actions that are incomplete. Right? That's what the word actually was created for, which has become so much more to us. Right. CS Lewis said, repeated failures are signposts on the road to achievement one fails forward towards success. Man, if we could just stop right there. And everybody was like, oh, yeah, get it? Got it. Good. Moving on. That would be so fantastic.
But what's the problem? The lie that we are failures, the lie that our failures define us. If we have that in our brains, that our failures define us, then we will continuously be fearful of failure in I gotta tell you, that is something that around our place, we will hammer pretty darn quickly. We are absolutely all about failing. Why? Because you don't fail. Unless you're moving things around. Unless you're doing stuff unless you're making things happen. And if you're making things happen, then you're trying to accomplish something. And if you're trying to accomplish something, I'm pretty darn happy. I don't mind if you fail, as long as it's not a fatal failure. And as long as this is what we say around our place, as long as you don't keep failing at the same thing. Figure out what happened, and how you fix it. What do you do about it? Right? If you can fix your failures, if you can learn from them, then failure becomes one of your greatest teachers. And that's what we want. We want our team to learn from our failures, we want our team to grow from our failures. Why? Because if they don't, and they're afraid of failing, then what's going to happen, they're not going to move a whole lot of stuff around. I like my team taking risks. I like my team accomplishing things, I like my team moving things around. But the crazy thing is, if I find fear, in failing, then I gotta jump in there and squash it. Somebody does, somebody has to, because if not, then that person or people are going to stop or dramatically reduced the amount of risk that they take. And then I'm going to tell you, I actually, like taking risks. Now I'm a calculated risk taker. But I like to take risks. And if we fail, and it doesn't hurt anybody, it's not fatal. We can learn from it and do better, great. Let failure be a teacher. So we shouldn't be in a place where we get stuck. Failure should be pointing us somewhere ahead of us. Alright, someplace that we could get to success. But if we don't learn to look at failure as a teacher, then it will always be something that hurts us and holds us back, and keeps us from being our best selves. Law number two, failure is an action or a series of actions that are culminating in an event. So when we see that our actions don't bring results, we change our actions or at least we should.
We should change our actions instead of stopping everything and backing away and beating ourselves up and all that kind of junk, right? The great physicist Albert Einstein once said, Insanity is making the same mistakes and expecting different results. So think about that, if we keep doing the same thing, and we keep expecting something different to happen. Well, that's the definition of insanity. I think we've all heard that before, right? But sometimes we don't really get it. So we need to make sure that we understand that if something fails, ng does something different change, change your actions. If it's not working, do something different. The funny thing with Edison is he didn't say I tried 10,000 times at the same thing until it finally worked. He said there were 10,000 ways I found that it wouldn't work. Which means that's 10,000 separate ways. Right? So for looking at failure in the right light then failure says to us, hey, the roads blocked the bridges out there, don't continue in that direction, back it up, rearranged, do something else, try something else. So to recap, failure is not who we are in two, it is an action that doesn't produce results. Law number three, which pretty much hit a lot of law number three, and law number one, but I'm gonna hit it again, which is that past failures can teach us.
So again, those who are willing to learn from their mistakes can actually learn from their mistakes, Henry Ford said, the only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing. If we don't learn from it, that's an actual failure, Colin Powell said, there are no secrets to success, it is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure. So here's the deal, folks, if you're not willing to learn from your mistakes, then you're not ready for excellence. Let me say that again. Let me pound that home. If you're not willing to learn from your mistakes, you're not ready for excellence. In fact, you're doomed to a life of mediocrity or best perfectionism. But we're gonna hit that one too. You got to learn how to learn. And you got to learn how to learn. You got to be able to look at your mistakes at your failures and go, What do I get from it? If you're stuck in the mode of I'm a failure, then you're always going to have that as your identity. And you will always hold you back. And you will always live a life of mediocrity at best. Or the sad thing is, you may live a life of perfectionism. Now, if you're out there, and you're somebody who struggles with perfectionism, and you're offended by this, don't worry, I'm gonna give you enough information to reverse that. Because perfectionism, in itself is a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure. Why? Because nobody can be perfect. Nobody can get to perfection. We're going to talk more about that when we come back. So we're excellence and perfection, part ways, that's coming up next.
Unknown Speaker 13:37
Freedom, it's so powerful, I felt rejuvenated, almost renewed, I just felt so welcomed and loved and accepted for who I am, and not an ounce of judgment. So I was very comfortable there which had a really big impact on me.
Chris LoCurto 13:52
that's going to be worth it. It's gonna be hard, but it's going to be even better. On the other side. For me, it was just, it was just very refreshing. And I'm gonna say lifegiving. For me, it really was, you know, I would go to the Next-Level Life again. And probably again, and probably again, because it's so powerful. If you want to experience the same kind of life transformation, the same kind of self-awareness and freedom that they have. Or maybe you're just curious what the process would look like for you, then head on over to Chris accardo.com/next level life.
Before we talk about a never-ending pursuit of getting better, growing yourself, and learning more, let's talk about helping your team to grow to improve, and excel at their job. The fact is that the more effective you become as a leader, the more effective your team becomes, which means the more your business will grow, and with less stress, which is what we all want, right? So if you're ready to take a huge leap forward in your leadership capability, then you absolutely need to check out our Next-Level Leadership Live Event coming up this April, registration is open and seats are selling out. So don't put this off. The keynote lessons are geared to equip you to build a high-performing team to cultivate excellence in every corner of the business and grow your revenues. Now, we're teaching truly transformative lessons during this event. And it doesn't stop there. We also have breakouts to help you to work on those things. So you can implement them right away, so you do not want to miss them. Sign up today at Crystal crypto.com/events and get ready for growth. Once again, go to Crystal crypto.com/events to take your business to the next level. Okay, we've dealt with failure. Now, let's tackle perfectionism. So we're freed up to practice excellence. So let's talk about the flaws of perfectionism. Now we're heading toward a conclusion here, but perfection is still in our way. All right. So let's look at some definitions.
Perfection is the relentless pursuit of a flawless state with 00 failure or fault. Think about this, okay? Think about what I just said. It comes from the Latin and means to be complete without fault. Nothing can be added to it or improved about it. Exactly. 100%. Correct. All of the time. I can see all you high seas nodding your heads and approval right now. Yes, that's exactly correct. Hey, anybody out there? Tell me when you've been perfect. Anybody out there tells me when you've reached perfection? Is anybody out there struggling with perfectionism? Tell me when you've hit it. One, have you ever hit a flawless state? without fault? Or failure? It's not just talking about one situation, guys. There is no perfectionism in one situation. It's a flawless state. It's saying that it's 100%. There are no failures. Every time there's not a failure, there's not a fault. So does that exist? Of course not. And yet we have a large part of our population that struggles with this idea that they need to get to perfection. And that struggles with this idea that if it's not perfect, there's something wrong with them. Now, as I say that out loud, doesn't that sound? Insane? Doesn't that sound just crazy? And yet, so many people struggle with it. Because when you're seeking it, it doesn't sound crazy. It sounds like the thing you're supposed to be doing. Unfortunately, nobody but Jesus has attained it.
And yet, why do we struggle so hard? So how does that stop us from getting to excellence? Well, let's take a look at excellence. Excellence is the relentless pursuit of improvement. getting better all the time. It comes from Latin and means to surpass what has come before. It's marked by outstanding quality, which means it's to be extremely good. Not perfect, but good. So here's what makes perfection so ugly, and unattainable. Perfection is often an impossible goal. And it's an obstacle to really focusing on excellence. Think about it, these things just contradict right? Somebody once said that Perfection is the enemy of excellence. And guess what? They were exactly right. Because to be perfect means that you can't be excellent. Well, Chris, if I am perfect, then I don't have to worry about being excellent. Excuse me. Once again. Let's go back to the one Have you ever been perfect? Have you ever known anybody to be perfect? Have you ever seen anybody outside of Jesus be perfect? You haven't. But I can tell you in counseling people in coaching people I have talked to perfectionists and pointed out that you know you're not perfect. And watch their eyes roll back in their head. Because it was something that they couldn't accept It was something that they were struggling so heavily with. Because everybody in their life had told them how perfect they were and how great they were, and so on and so forth. And yet, when they answered they would say, Well, of course not. But what were they seeking? Perfection, because somewhere in their mind, it was actually attainable. Perfection is not attainable. For us humans, it's just not. It's never gonna be. It isn't now it never will be. But excellence is absolutely attainable. It's also been said that Perfection is the enemy of progress, success, and greatness, you gotta agree with that. It just keeps getting in the way of you getting better. And as soon as someone thinks they've arrived at perfection, they'll stop pursuing a higher and better goal. So think about it that way. If you ever actually reached a place where you thought that you were perfect or doing something perfectly, there is no going past that you're done.
There's no purpose for a higher goal. If you're doing the thing perfectly, you're good to go. Which again, doesn't happen. But you get the concept, right? If you did reach that, you're in trouble. A mindset of perfection will focus too much on failure, and miss the lesson it teaches. So here's where it gets really, really bad. Here's here's perfections. fatal flaw. Perfection has a zero-tolerance rule for failure. Perfectionists wrestle with this all the time. I mean, like, all the time, they can't stand the concept of fail in, right? Because why? Because failure means that they're not perfect. So when somebody is struggling with perfectionism, they hate the concept of failure, even more than the people who are struggling with perfectionism. Like failure really decimates this person. Because it means that they're not getting to the perfection that they think that they should be able to reach. So think about it. personality styles. Obviously, all my high seas are out there. I'm hoping you're agreeing with me that you're hearing this stuff and going yep, that's been me. Yep. I struggled with that instead of going oh, no, no, no, it's not that bad. Oh, no, no, it's not like that. Yeah, yeah, it is. It is.
Spend some time processing how you respond to failure and how you respond to perfectionism, right? But it doesn't matter what personality style you are. It doesn't it's not limited to a personality style, not to one, right. It's not just the C's that struggle with this. Everybody does it. Not every person does. But every personality style can struggle with this, this thought of perfectionism, right? And how much it absolutely holds you back. So to make matters worse, perfectionism carries a lot of baggage along with it, check this out. guilt enters in because perfection wasn't obtained. And it's easily confused with identity instead of an activity. It easily leads to covering up I know none of you have ever done that before. It leads to covering up to protect worth issues, it leads us to feel fearful and increasingly embarrassed. And as an identity trait, failure means that I can't be good enough. Look at the worth issues nonstop. And this nonstop. Excellence, on the other hand, has an allowance for failure, so long as it's learned from and doesn't become a crutch or an excuse for shrinking responsibilities. Right? Grace enters in because we continue to pursue the goal. It gives us humility because we've messed up before as well. It enhances our creativity and gives us a sense of courage. It adds a holistic experience of both success and failure. And since it's an activity, not our identity, we continue to grow. Unlike failure and perfectionism. Excellence isn't an action. It's a habit and a pursuit. Think about what a habit is for just a second it's it's really cool where this word comes from. So its original meaning was a state of being or condition. Then it came to mean, the clothes that somebody put on, think about like a monk's habit or robe when it came to mean a behavior pattern acquired by frequent repetition. So if we want to put on excellence, wearing it like a robe, then we've got to practice it excellence is the highest way of doing things. That's where we get the word Excel from Excel is, is to become exceptional or exceedingly proficient in an activity it carries repetition with it.
That's why excellence is a habit, a pursuit of something that we practice continually. Someone once said, we become what we repeatedly practice. And guess what that's so true, we practice Excellence, making it a habit, and in doing so, we improve every single day. Each day offers new challenges and new opportunities to excel to become better to grow. So here's what I hope you take away from today's episode, you are not your past failures, so don't identify with them, they are not who you are. Failure is just an action that came up short and missed the mark. So learn from it. Perfection will take you on a wild goose chase and lead you to guilt in low self-worth. Excellence is the pursuit of something higher, and better, and it has to be practiced. And with humility, excellence renders grace to others while showing the better way. So hopefully, this has helped you to take a different look at perfectionism. Hopefully, this has helped you to take a different look at excellence. If you can keep and hopefully this has helped you to take a different look at failure as well. If you can keep these things in mind. You can change the way you view yourself. You can change the way you view how you accomplish things, the things you go after goals, and be okay with failure. And hopefully, this all helped you today to make better decisions in life. Well, that's all the time we have for today. As always, we want you to do the same thing that we asked at the end of every show. Take this information, change your leadership, change your business, change your life. And join us on the next episode.