You Dont Have to Be Perfect.

For the past 5 years, I have been part of the coaching staff for Stony Point High School Boy's Lacrosse. I have some players that are well over 200lbs so it is kind of hard to call them "boys" but that is for another day.
During my coaching tenure, I have heard and often repeated the phrase, "Practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect". After many days of practice and many days of pursuit of perfect, I have realized that neither perfect practice or perfect truly exist. They are both truly a pursuit. Perfection is a golden cup ,that for all of us will lay eternally in the future.
That is not to down play the importance of the pursuit however. In fact, it is the pursuit that separates the high performers from the status quo, rank and file. For most high performers, the goal of perfection is never attained. Even though some spectators might observe a beautiful play and call it perfection, the players will always think that something could have been better. So they go on pursuing it.
This is not a sign of obsession or some dangerous work-a-holic attitude. It is a sign of greatness. The great ones will always go on pursuing better methods and better performances. They understand that with out the pursuit, there is nothing. Only the memory of past performances and victories. The great ones always look to tomorrow for the opportunity to do better than they did today.
So don't go out and kill yourself because you did not have a perfect day. Study your technique, keep what worked and redesign what did not. Keep pursuing the goal of perfection. It is the journey that matters.