Personal Development for Smart People Forums - View Single Post - How do you get perfect on a test? Really need help here.

jendoe · 04-01-2009, 05:06 AM

Chillax - I'm sorry if I seemed glib.

I didn't mean that it's "easy to do something perfectly". What I meant was - if you absolutely MUST do something perfectly, you had better pick something that you already an expert at... otherwise, there are simply no guarantees. And that whatever you picked, in order for you to guarantee perfection, would be something so easy for you, it wouldn't be worth it.

For example, If I asked you to recite the alphabet in order - that's easy, right? You can do that with no real effort - you can do it absolutely perfectly I'm assuming. Maybe even drunk, or sleep-deprived, or in distress.

But, because it's something you've already mastered, there's no challenge, so what's the point.

My point was just that you can't guarantee perfection, and it's really not a useful goal. I'm not saying this to hurt you, or to make light of your obvious concerns here... (and it's coming from my experiences over the last two years.)

My experience was - the harder I tried for perfect, the less likely I was to get there. It just makes things too hard - picking an impossible goal, at least for me, makes it more difficult to actually learn or achieve anything. It focuses you on failure and "never good enough". This doesn't really support learning at all.

Anyway - I'm sorry - it seems like you're truly distressed, and I sure didn't mean to add to that. And I'm definitely not saying do not aim high or reach for lofty goals. I think those are worthy things to do, and can inspire us to achieve more. But, I think we have to do that with a fundamental respect for our humanness - and humans are not perfect

This article was helpful to me last year:
Escape from Cubicle Nation: Perfectionists are losers

Best wishes and good luck in achieving all that you set your heart to!

04-01-2009, 05:06 AM	#14 (permalink)
jendoe Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 52	Chillax - I'm sorry if I seemed glib. I didn't mean that it's "easy to do something perfectly". What I meant was - if you absolutely MUST do something perfectly, you had better pick something that you already an expert at... otherwise, there are simply no guarantees. And that whatever you picked, in order for you to guarantee perfection, would be something so easy for you, it wouldn't be worth it. For example, If I asked you to recite the alphabet in order - that's easy, right? You can do that with no real effort - you can do it absolutely perfectly I'm assuming. Maybe even drunk, or sleep-deprived, or in distress. But, because it's something you've already mastered, there's no challenge, so what's the point. My point was just that you can't guarantee perfection, and it's really not a useful goal. I'm not saying this to hurt you, or to make light of your obvious concerns here... (and it's coming from my experiences over the last two years.) My experience was - the harder I tried for perfect, the less likely I was to get there. It just makes things too hard - picking an impossible goal, at least for me, makes it more difficult to actually learn or achieve anything. It focuses you on failure and "never good enough". This doesn't really support learning at all. Anyway - I'm sorry - it seems like you're truly distressed, and I sure didn't mean to add to that. And I'm definitely not saying do not aim high or reach for lofty goals. I think those are worthy things to do, and can inspire us to achieve more. But, I think we have to do that with a fundamental respect for our humanness - and humans are not perfect This article was helpful to me last year: Escape from Cubicle Nation: Perfectionists are losers Best wishes and good luck in achieving all that you set your heart to!