When you perform surgery, you quickly learn that perfect is the enemy of good.  Every surgical procedure has certain limits, and when you exceed them, complications occur.  The goal of surgery is to perform a definitive procedure rather than a perfect one.  You commit yourself to excellence rather than perfection.

During a surgical procedure, you use all you skills to achieve an excellent result.  When the temptation arises to pursue perfection, you put your surgical instruments down and leave the operating room.  Every good surgeon resists the temptation to convert an excellent operation into a perfect one.  In the pursuit of perfection, you push the surgical envelop too far and complications happen.

We had a saying in surgery you should stop just before something bad happens rather than just after.  That’s the difference between going for a good result rather than a perfect one.  Good gets the job done better than perfect, and does it with fewer complications.  The best surgeons do the least amount of surgery that still gives definitive results.  They achieve excellence without falling into perfection’s trap.

Life is the same way.  Perfection is the enemy of a good life.  Perfection is impossible and trying to achieve it makes your life worse rather than better.

Excerpt from :

Zero Tolerance To Negative Thinking : Good-by Depression - Hello Positive Mind

David J Abbott M.D.