Is perfection worth pursuit?

Once again I’m stealing from other people’s blogs. I need to stop this.

The following is from Susan Garrett’s blog (susangarrettdogagility.com) on Dec. 16. She is quoting Anthony Robbins, a motivational speaker/life coach kind of guy. That’s probably not an accurate description of him but is the closest I could come. (Yeah, I really do write for a living. I get paid to use words correctly. Some days they just escape me.) Oh, wait. I just went back to her site and she calls him a life strategist. Okay. Now we’re clear on that.

Robbins says, “Perfection is the lowest standard a human could ever take on because it is unattainable, therefore you ultimately have no standard at all. You are preparing for failure, because that is your ultimate expectation.” Susan writes, “So aiming for perfection means you will never move forward. For some of you that may be what your subconscious expects and you will never achieve more than you think you deserve.” She also encourages her agility students to exchange “perfect” for loads of fun and “roughly right.”

Whoa.

Chew on that for a minute.

All my life as a dog trainer, since I was age 9, I’ve trained in pursuit of perfection. This has gotten me two OTCHs, multiple invites to the AKC NOI and I’ll admit, a lot of headaches along the way. It’s also made me look long and hard at what’s most important in this journey with my dogs and guess what - it’s NOT perfection in the show ring as determined by a judge with a clipboard. Each dog has had to remind me of this because I occasionally forget.

Believe me, if you train and show in competitive obedience in the upper Midwest (or anywhere else for that matter), you’d think perfection was the ultimate goal. Heel position is an exact science. Fractions of inches on fronts can separate first place from second place. If you want to run with the big dogs, you have to play the game and the name of the game is perfect. Unfortunately, it’s the judge’s opinion that counts, not yours, and there can be a great deal of variation between your standard of perfection and the judge’s.

Agility isn’t exempt either. Even after the most spectacular, time-smashing agility run, most exhibitors can watch their video and find places that could be improved. Turns could be tighter, cues given sooner, body language improved, etc.

So perfection truly is an impossible standard and having that as your #1 goal is what I call “crazy-making behavior.” You’ll drive yourself insane trying to reach it, because you can't.

January is a popular month for setting goals and figuring out what you want to achieve in the coming year. I have goals scribbled on scraps of paper tucked around the house, the van and in my training bag. Some are lofty, others not so much. But I believe in my heart all are achievable, and even better, none depend on any form of perfection to be deemed a “success.”

Go have some fun with your dog tonight. Phoenix and Jamie and I are going to play outdoors in the (melting!) snow when I get home from work, then play some obedience games indoors at home.

Today, I am thankful it is 34 degrees on the right side of zero.