Wilson Family Motto
Jamin was a first-born, and the son of a first-born. His dad was born a perfectionist, and that apple didn't fall far from the tree! By the time he was in High School, we noticed that he was sometimes leaving projects uncompleted, simply because they were not PERFECT! This, we thought, was a problem. We had a talk with him, reminding him that an excellent project that is finished is far better than a perfect project which never gets finalized. The amazing thing about Jamin is that he usually listened to his parents and mentors!!! We soon saw a change.
It was around this time, I believe, that we made one of our family motto's, "We strive for excellence, not perfection". Charlie has often had to ask one child or another to repeat that back to him, when they needed to be reminded. But the great thing is, when they see a bit of perfectionism bubbling to the surface in Charlie, the children have also been heard asking their dad "What's our family motto, Dad??", and he appreciates the reminder. (As for mom, perfectionism has never been a problem. I could use a bit more of the striving for excellence in my life!) We believe striving for perfection is futile. But there is nothing at all wrong with striving for excellence. In fact we should all do that, achieving as high a level as we possibly can.
He realized his weaknesses and was continually on a pursuit to improve them . . . oh that we would all do the same!
No comments:
Post a Comment