Does "perfection" really exist?

There is such a fairy tale, which is very enlightening:

There was a circle that was chopped off a small part by someone, and it felt very inferior. He wants to find a perfect self, so he goes everywhere looking for pieces of himself. Because he was not complete, he rolled very slowly when searching. Along the way, it stayed with flowers, talked with insects, and fully enjoyed the joy of life.

It found many fragments, but none of them were the ones he had dropped, but he was not discouraged and continued to search. . . . . .

Finally one day, he found the fragment as he wished. And make yourself a complete circle again.

However, it rolled so fast that it missed the flower blooming season, ignored the whispering of insects, and could not feel the joy of life. Later, it realized this and resolutely threw away the piece that it had worked so hard to find.

If you pursue perfection, you will miss more valuable things.

In a public speech, Bai Yansong once talked about a period of life insights when he was 30 years old.

In 2000, 32-year-old Bai Yan was already flexing his muscles on CCTV.

Whether it is the Olympic Games or the Spring Festival Gala, there is always a spotlight belonging to him on the stage of any large-scale program.

And he also wears many hats, not only participating in the recording of flagship programs in various departments such as sports, entertainment, news, etc., he is also the producer of three columns.

In the eyes of many people, Bai Yansong was a perfect host at that time.

However, the following year, he made an unexpected move.

Production was suspended for a year without any appearances.

Someone advised him at that time, saying that in the host industry, as long as you don't appear on the scene for a month, you will be fine, but if you don't appear on the scene for half a year, no one will remember you.

But he still put down most of the work at hand without hesitation, because he found that the more applause he received, the more overwhelmed he became.

So, a year later, we met the man who created classic news programs such as "News 1+1", "Time and Space Connection", "News Parlor", etc., who was eloquent and critical of current problems. .

Looking back on the past, Bai Yansong said with emotion:

"The best way to ruin a person is to make him strive for perfection and reach the extreme.* *"**

"Everything today is actually thanks to the subtraction at that time. I became simpler and became who I am today."

As the saying goes: the flowers are half-opened and the wine is slightly drunk.

Zeng Guofan once wrote in a letter home to his younger brother:

"On weekdays, it is best to use the seven words 'the flowers are not fully blooming and the moon is not full'. They think it is the way to cherish blessings and protect peace." Don’t be good at this.”

When the flowers are in full bloom, they begin to wither; when the moon is full, they begin to wither.

There is no perfect circle in the world, and there are black spots on the sun.

Absolute perfection does not exist objectively.

Why do you say that?

"Tao Te Ching":

If you hold on to it and make it full, it will not be as good as it is; if you hold it and sharpen it, it will not last long. A house full of gold and jade cannot be guarded by anyone; if you are arrogant and rich, you will be blamed for it.

It means: It is better to stop when you are full. A sharp edge cannot last long. The house is full of gold and jade, but it cannot be kept hidden. Being rich and arrogant will bring disaster to oneself.

Everything in this world objectively has two sides, yin and yang. If there is a good side, there must be a bad side. Therefore, absolute perfection does not exist, and for the same reason, there is no absolute defect.

Why?

Everything in this world follows the law of "the extremes of things must be reversed".

The ultimate pursuit of perfection must be destruction.

Some people say, then we can just do things the same way, right?

Of course not.

"Perfectionism" is a wrong obsession, because there is no absolute perfection, and everyone must have this understanding.

However, we can "pursue perfection" and constantly strive for excellence.

Seeing this, some people will say, wow, you have said it all. Just now you said that absolute perfection does not exist, and now you say that you must pursue perfection. Isn't this contradictory?

No contradiction.

As mentioned just now, everything in this world follows the law that things must be reversed, such as the law of "birth, growth, collection, and storage".

When a person starts a business, he will go through the "birth" stage at the beginning of the business, the "growing" stage when the business gradually expands, the "acquisition" stage when the business is booming, and the gradual decline. "hiding" stage.

"Perfectionism" means that when you are in the "acceptance" stage of success, you still want to get to the next level. This kind of paranoia will harm yourself.

And "pursuing perfection" means constantly approaching the "acceptance" stage.

The biggest difference between "perfectionism" and "pursuit of perfection" is that the latter knows when enough is enough.

Some people will refute the example of Steve Jobs because he was a successful perfectionist.

Jobs was an extremely restrained perfectionist who constantly strived for excellence in the details of his products. However, he was not a "perfectionist" because he updated his products every year.

Why update? Because he believes that the new generation of products must be better than the previous generation.

As for "perfectionists", they will fall into paranoia and will never give up until perfection is achieved. This is a "appearance". Therefore, if Steve Jobs was a perfectionist, he would not launch new products year after year, because new products are the biggest insult to "perfection".

This is why I say that he is a person who "pursues perfection" and strives for excellence. He is not paranoid at all.

In 2018, Apple became the world’s most valuable company. For such a powerful company, look at its products:

iPhone, Ipad, iMac, Watch, iPod touch, AirPods , HomePod.

Just these products.

It is hard for you to imagine that a world-class technology company has only a few products, because technology should be more widely used and have more products to demonstrate its role, but Apple is not like this. , this is entirely because Jobs is an extremely restrained person and he knows when enough is enough.

And enough is enough is the biggest difference between "perfectionism" and "pursuit of perfection".

Leo Tolstoy has a famous saying: "All changes, all charm, and all beauty in life are composed of light and shadow."

Everyone's life , have been created a gap by God. The more you try to bridge it, the wider it will be torn apart.

Keep that regret, life may not be perfect, but it becomes more complete.

When we deal with people, we must know how to do things according to rules, resist the false heart, and keep the reason and tranquility in our hearts.