Does Passion Beat Perfection ?
I was once a semifinalist in a moot court competition in law school; a competition for oral advocacy in arguing a case. The journey there was easy for me, because my only goal was to win two rounds to qualify for the moot court society. Once I did that I was done, everything else was cherries and sprinkles. Does anyone eat sprinkles anymore? I digress. So by the time I got to the semifinals I had already won at least five rounds. That's a lot of cherries and sprinkles. What! It was all so surreal. It was like watching yourself become a rock star from singing in the shower. Too easy. For the semifinal it started to hit me that I was pretty awesome, and I just had one more dude to knock off before the grand finale. So I prepared. I practiced. I worked on my presentation to make it flawless. I was going for perfection. And you know what happened? I was perfect. And I lost.
The judges gave us feedback on our performance after each round, so I was ready to hear what the numbskulls had to say. Is numbskulls actually a word? My spellcheck didn't flinch so it must be. Yeesss. Do you know what the numbskulls said? "You were perfect. But kind of too perfect. A bit robotic." Exsqueezeme? I give up. THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS TOO PERFECT IN AN ORAL ADVOCACY COMPETITION! PERFECTION IS THE GOAL! Idiot. I said all of that in my head. I felt like crying. How could I be penalized, lose to be exact, for being too perfect.
That day changed my life. That day I learned that there is a time to be perfect, and there is a time to be passionate. But how to choose? It took a few more years for me to learn that.I heard the same thing a couple of years later in feedback after an interview. I did not get the job. The critique was "You were too stiff". Bahahaaaa! Me stiff? Is there a more raunchy way to express a gut laugh in writing than "bahahaaaa"? If so I need it, because that was a good one. Stiff I am not. I am passionate. Loud. Crazy, and freaking awesome. But I admit. There is another side. And that chick comes out every now and then.
That chick side wore a suit, put the hair in a bun, wore plain black shoes, was calm, and spoke clearly, perfectly, and seriously. She tried to fit into the corporate culture and be a part of that fraternity. The other side did not laugh much, definitely did not laugh like bahahaaaa, and had one priority. Be perfect. The other side failed me. As an academic and as a corporate applicant. What was the problem?
I finally figured it out. People are simple, and if you are boring they are bored. That's why the judges couldn't bear to choose me, the perfect one, over the dude who said things like "You have to see the tree in the forest...", and other bright illustrations of the dry judicial arguments. Those statements went straight to the part of their brain hungry for entertainment and color. It woke them up! I on the other hand put them to sleep with my perfect facts and argument recitals. Who cares?
This can be a big bitter, jagged edged pill to swallow for most of us, because we are conditioned to believe that perfection is the goal. Wrong. Take my word for it, because I learned the hard way. You need your doctor to get the facts perfectly. The same for your architect and your accountant. At the end, they deal with paper, if you stretch your mind to view your body as a canvas. Almost everything else deals with people. So, relax in an interview, laugh a little. Let them see a person behind the bun.
How to choose? When dealing with paper choose perfection. When dealing with people choose passion. And most importantly, tell that chick with the plain black shoes, don't come round here no more!
Tia D Rock is the Audacious Coach©. She is especially passionate about coaching young women to live a big brave life, to take a big piece of the pie, and to kick butt! Tia has been a corporate attorney for ten years and likens the business to jungle life. She uses her most sour-lemons experiences to help her clients and fans to make the sweetest lemonade. Catch Tia D Rock on her YouTube channel where she motivates viewers weekly to Make Life Great!
