Why Purpose Doesn't Mean Perfection (And How to Live This Out Everyday)
Only God
When I was studying for my Diploma of Education I had a trying time. To say the least.
I had plans that got derailed due to unexpected illness that nearly took my life.
But through this same experience I learned that often the things we try to attain are at a level of perfection that cannot be achieved.
And are not required.
And it's okay to accept this. You don't have to be perfect. In fact, you aren't. No one is except God.
You just need to know what your goals are and develop a simple and sustainable plan to achieve them.
I'll use my own experiences from my studies, along with God's Word, to show you why purpose doesn't mean perfection.
I believe that understanding this distinction will help you take the steps you need to do what God is calling you to do as you serve your community and build your own success.
The criteria needed
1. Look at the criteria
In Barbados, teachers talk about ‘doing de double’. This means you want to get a double distinction in the Diploma. One for the Theory of Education and another for the Practice.
Part of the criteria included scoring a minimum of 5 B+ grades in specific subjects. This means that any combination of B+, A-, A and A+ in those subjects would be accepted.
When I wrote this article, I asked the AI how many possible combinations of grades could help me reach my goals.
The answer? 1024.
I needed 1 combination out of 1024 to be eligible to ‘’do de double’.
What does this mean? It means that I didn't need to be perfect. I needed to be strategic.
If only I knew back then what I know now. But hopefully you can learn from my mistakes and chart a better path.
Instead of focusing on the criteria and working out a strategy to achieve it, I aimed to get all A's.
Burnt myself out in under 4 months and nearly met my Maker.
Because there was a level of perfection I thought I needed to have to say that I achieved my goal.
And that's just wasn’t true.
The purpose of the program was to give me the training and qualifications I needed to do my job well. But somehow I twisted the criteria that was already in place and put a level of perfection on myself that couldn't be achieved.
Maybe you do the same.
There's a criteria that God has set out for your life:
Love Him.
Love others.
Part of that includes being obedient when He gives you directions. And stewarding your gifts well.
He never said to run yourself ragged trying to be perfect. We change His criteria, fail our own expectations and then run hard in the opposite direction.
If you're called to teach, you may say you're not a teacher.
But that's not a criteria to teach. Everybody is a teacher of something to someone who doesn't yet have that knowledge or skill set.
You may think you need to have everything together.
I had so many lessons that flopped. But that didn't stop me from teaching. Or from doing de double. Which I did 😉
BTW…I got 1 A+, 2 A's and 2 B+ grades. Some people were on track with 4 A's and then scored a C in the last course and missed the double.
No perfection needed. Just a focus on the purpose I had.
2. Look at your resources
All the tools
Let's say you wanted to scramble eggs and you usually add in cheese, onions, salt and pepper.
If you had no onions, could you still make scrambled eggs?
Of course you can. The taste might be slightly different but the ability to prepare the dish is still there.
Because the main ingredient is the eggs. Once you have those you can scramble eggs. The rest of ingredients are extra things for flavour and based on preference.
When I did my Diploma I didn't always have what I wanted for a lesson
Resources were limited so I had to find creative alternatives.
Can you imagine if my tutor turned up and found me not teaching and the kids doing whatever only to hear me say:
I couldn't get the projector so I didn't teach today.
Or…The electricity went out so there goes my plan.
My job would have gone with it!
Sometimes you may focus on your resources or lack thereof to determine if you should step forward.
But if you wait around until you have it all together you'll be waiting for a long time.
The purpose of me teaching was to do just that…teach. That's what I needed to focus on (Like having eggs for scramble eggs).
How I did it and what I used were just extra things to enhance my lesson (like the cheese, onions, salt and pepper).
Teaching can still happen without those things. Although they are impressive to have.
I always had a backup plan or two. It's about knowing the purpose for which I turned up. And not focusing on impressing a tutor which is based on perfection.
You need to examine your own life and determine if you're looking at the purpose of sharing your genius:
To build an engaged community
Serve your audience with solutions
Use your gifts to make a way for you
Or if you're holding back your audience's success - and your own - by focusing on perfection.
3. Look at the world
So much fun!
This is one of the few times I'll advocate looking at the world. Think of all the things you enjoy in life.
Books. Movies. Food. Let's start with those.
I write professional book reviews for a website. I've given five star ratings for books that were so good. But I still found errors related to spelling, grammar and sentence structure. No perfection.
The purpose was to write a compelling story. You can have a story with perfect grammar but it is as exciting as watching paint dry.
Perfection is not the goal.
What about movies?
I'm sure you've watched movies you enjoyed but you still found some thing to critique.
A bad accent.
A corny line.
A silly ending.
But you still loved the picture despite the imperfections. Imagine if movies were only produced based on perfection.
Goodbye Hollywood 👋🏾.
Consider your favourite meal.
I'm sure every time you had it there was something that could have been done better. But you'd still eat it again, right?
Everything we enjoy in this world has been made imperfectly. That doesn't stop the producers from producing.
Or the customers from ‘customing’ 👀.
Why should it stop you from doing what God has called you to do?
Use feedback to improve and keep the picture of achieving purpose top of mind.
No perfection needed
So how do you actually go after purpose and not perfection?
4. Use God's Word
It's full of encouraging scriptures and stories of imperfect people who allowed God to use them to fulfill a purpose. Despite their flaws and mistakes.
You can do the same.
For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)
5. Keep the right picture
We tend to form pictures of the things we want in our minds. Don't picture the goal with a perfect image that you created. Capture that thought and replace it with one that is from God.
bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, (2 Corinthians 10:5)
Picture achieving your goal as being obedient to Christ.
You're more likely to see it through to the end rather than letting perfection take over your plans.
4. Pray for guidance
Ask The Lord to help you with this. In your own strength you'll fail. But with His help He can give you a revelation, insight or a word to help you overcome perfection and focus on purpose instead.
It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes. (Psalm 118:8-9)
Don't trust your own self. And run hard and fast from people who tell you to do that. You can't be trusted so don't come up with your own ways of doing things.
7. Ready to step out in purpose and leave perfection behind?
A big part of leaving perfection behind is knowing when to ask for help. It's not about doing it alone without making a mistake. It's about getting the guidance you need to help you step out in purpose.
With my KAV Framework I can help you develop a simple, sustainable plan so you can teach your YOU-Nique genius with confidence and clarity.
And use your imperfections to fuel you rather than limit you.
Click below to learn more.