I have a love-hate relationship with emails. I love the ease and speed of email communication, but I hate it when I make mistakes. You know the feeling. If you don't, if you're one of those people who never make mistakes in emails, God bless you. But for me, I make mistakes. It's usually on a day when the world is crazy and I'm already pushing ahead on the next project, but still finishing up the last one. I look back at some of those rushed emails and think, "What was I thinking when I constructed that sentence?"

But I'm getting better. Even on the busiest of days, I force myself to slow down and read through an email. It's helped. Having flawless email still escapes me, but I see improvements.

However, there for a while, I found myself edging toward a dangerous situation. Feeling somewhat embarrassed by my errors, I began to take more time to proof them. Okay, nothing wrong with that. But then, I found myself taking longer and longer with each email. Spell check. Proof it. Ah, better spell check one more time. Better read over it one more time. Hmmm … just to be safe, spell check one more time … . You get the picture.

As a consultant, I sometimes encounter a battle between excellence and perfection. What's the difference, you may ask? One employee makes a mistake, sets a goal to improve, and moves on. Another employee makes a mistake, but from that time forward, finds it difficult to let go of a project, even if it means missing deadlines.

I like the example of email because it demonstrates the difference between excellence and perfection. My tendency to fret over long emails, using far too much time compared to the actual communication value of the email itself, was a wake-up call. It became clear that I was quickly crossing the line between working toward excellence and moving to an obsession for perfection. And as Harriet Braiker once wrote, "Striving for excellence motivates you; striving for perfection is demoralizing." ¹

Excellence is constant motion, constant change.

Perfection is a cruel taskmaster that demands flawless work right now, without exception—even at the risk of ignoring our broader responsibility.

Excellence enlarges our universe. It causes us to grow stronger, become more confident in all that we do. It attacks failure head-on, but does not fear to fail again. It gives us hope.

Perfection narrows our field of vision and feeds on the fear of failure. It can quickly germinate into gangrene of the heart and soul.

Galatians 6:9 has always been a favorite verse: "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." God doesn't expect us to be perfect right here, right now. But he does desire that we keep changing. Excellence is much like creating music or art—we always strive to make each piece a little better than the last. Let's hold each other accountable in this. Strive to become better today than yesterday. Commit to keep going, to keep improving, even in the face of failure.

Pray that God will give us wisdom and grace. He can help us see the hope of excellence rather than the despair of compulsion and perfectionism.

1. Gordon S. Jackson: Never Scratch a Tiger with a Short Stick: Nav Press: 2003, page 66.