What Does Perfect Mean Anyway?

“If the world were perfect, it wouldn’t be.” — Yogi Berra.

You want the perfect life: the perfect job, the perfect house, and the perfect family. The hard truth is that it doesn’t exist. Unsurprisingly, endlessly chasing perfection can stunt happiness and lead to depression. A more realistic approach is to work towards greater goals which are right for you while always appreciating what you have. 

Ask your friends what the definition of perfect is and you will get many different answers. This makes sense as there is no definitive definition which could be provided, even when given context. Perfection is subjective because its definition depends upon one’s social, moral, cultural, personal standards, and world-view¹. This only confirms what we pointed out above, chasing a view of perfect it to chase something which doesn’t truly exist. To make matters worse, if your strive for perfection gets out of hand it can actually hinder your success and hurt your health. Perfectionists have a higher risk of eating disorders, anxiety disorders, and depression².

Hollywood and social media love to push ideals of perfection down on the masses, but this is super harmful to wellbeing³. Before going down a doom spiral of depression because you don’t match up, remember perfection doesn’t exist. Take time to appreciate where you are in life. Make decisions based on what is right for you and what aligns with your goals. This doesn’t mean you can’t push your limits for forward progress. You absolutely should, just forgive yourself for mistakes and setbacks as you make forward progress.

Action: Forget perfect and define milestones which are right for you.

Further Reading:

1. Other Research — Acceptance of Imperfection
2. Your Best Life: Perfectionism—The Bane of Happiness
3. Dis-like: How Social Media Feeds into Perfectionism