Perfectionism has killed more goals and dreams than the most intimidating teachers, the most oppressive governments, and the worst economic conditions.

Perfectionism is that incessant voice in your head that has the audacity to nitpick and dwell on insignificant details contained within your most impressive creations.

Perfectionism is that sucking sound in your head trying to siphon away the meaning out of your 100+ victories while placing a magnifying glass over your one defeat. And finally, perfection

Sometimes we get so worked up over making something perfect, unique, or special that we open the door for resistance, perfectionism, and self sabotage to come in and kill off an idea before it even gets birthed into this world.

But it doesn't have to be this way.

Sometimes a simple thank you and a hug is more important than the most extravagant present.

Sometimes a little encouragement is all that is needed to lift someone up enough for them to walk on their own two feet.

I almost quit.

Several months ago I had this amazingly bold, exciting, creative, “Oh my God this is going to change my life” idea just hit me. I finally discovered what I believed to be my life’s purpose! A euphoric sensation overwhelmed me as my mind raced for over 40 minutes thinking about this new insight. One idea led to another, and then a dozen, and then a fireworks display that was bursting and moving so quickly that there was no hope to capture each and every little streak of light.

The Scenario: You meet a person you really get along with. You share interests, laughs, world views, etc. You hang out a few times and start thinking that this person could be your soul mate or your BBF. But then you find out that they are moving 3 states away in 1 month. Bummer…

Question: Do you continue to develop the friendship knowing that it may come to a close in the very near future? Or do you cut your loses now, deciding that it’s not worth investing anymore time in the relationship?

I had been warned for many many years about the dangers of working long hours at a computer without taking certain precautions (exercises, good posture, taking breaks, etc). I heard horror stories of people having to give up a high paying computer programming jobs to take a significant amount of time off and/or have surgery just to regain their ability to type. I even knew a guy who had to resort to temporary life-hacks to get around this condition, like using his non-dominant hand for half the day just so he could reduce the pain.

I had ignored all the warning. I had not taken any precautions. And 3 years ago, I had my moment of panic.

No matter which way the wind blew, there was always the subtle hint of cow manure in the air. This is what happens when you live directly between two dairy farms, which is where my family was situated for the first 17 years of my life. It was sort of a metaphor for the otherwise beautiful scenery of Glen, NY: namely that life never changed much and it was difficult to get a “fresh” start (pun intended).

Perhaps this is why my math teacher was so adamant about me going to college out of state. He even went as far as driving me out to MIT, probably to make sure I didn’t chicken out. This same teacher would lament about the fates of students that couldn’t quite make a clean break from the hometown and move far enough away. Inevitably, a large percentage of them would return to their parents homes within 6 to 12 months, staying only long enough before setting up permanent residence in the old hometown. And to further solidify the pattern, many would start living the same types of lives and lifestyles as their parents instead of creating their own.

I love poetry. There is something extremely satisfying about creating unique snapshots of the human experience while using the fewest number of words possible. And a single word change, usually discovered after a thesaurus exploration, can completely alter the meaning and mood of a piece. So it’s not unlike a game of chess, where a person must place each piece into position with precision in order to prevail!

She shoos me up the staircase
while smiling
while encouraging
while prattling on
like a proud mother

“I don’t think I can”
Yet she pays no attention
and rushes past me
stopping only to point intensely
at the small X mark upon center stage

One spotlight
Exposing one, lonely microphone
(the focal point)
of a million eyeballs

One Moment
To stand my creation up
naked
in front of the masses
will they judge?
Of course!

35476 unread links. How in God’s name did I let my information hoarding tendencies get me this far in to the never ending pit of internet information overload (or IIO for short). But like a drug addict that hits rock bottom, I knew that the only way to knock out this habit was to be bold, and go cold… turkey that is.

And so here we are at milestone #2 towards my goal of a low information diet: the great RSS feed unsubscribe experiment of 2012.

Often, the greatest miracles that occur in our lives initially show up as something ominous, dangerous, and negative. But we are but one set of eyes among 7 billion and an almost infinite number of moving parts that make up our universe. From our vantage point, who knows what’s really good and bad? If only we could peer over the shoulder of God and see the great cosmic game of chess from his perspective. Maybe then we’d realize what is good and bad can change in an instant, depending on the contextual lens we are using in that brief moment in time.