It's Not About Perfection

During the last ten years, I have talked to a lot of people who are interested in adopting a plant-based diet. I have given everyone the same basic advice.

When you decide to switch to eating only plant-based foods, you can easily lose your mind and your will. You can read ingredient labels over and over. You can question every waitress in every restaurant about the animal ingredients in every menu item. You can constantly search the internet to find out where every ingredient comes from. You can easily become obsessed with your quest to be perfect.

It's not about perfection. Choosing to follow a plant-based diet is all about doing your best. If you slip up or accidentally eat something you did not want to eat, don't beat yourself up over it. Acknowledge it and move on. People are too worried about all or nothing. Ever little step you take to improve your diet is a win for you, the environment and the animals. It isn't about being perfect because no one is.

What if we utilized this advice in everything we do? How would we be different if we realized it isn't about being perfect, but about doing our best? How much more would we produce, ship or develop? How much better would our lives become if we were constantly striving to do our best instead of giving up every time something went wrong? What if we acknowledged mistakes, learned from them and just moved on?

Each of us has numerous things on our plate needing to get done. Many of us are terrified of not being perfect and don't do anything. I have heard from numerous people who haven't tried adopting a plant-based diet because they were scared they wouldn't be able to do it. There are tons of people who don't try any number of things because they are afraid they won't be good at them or they won't be able to do it perfectly. Don't let the idea of perfection hold you back from doing anything you really want to do.

Do your best...if you come up short or make a mistake or slip up, then acknowledge it, learn from it and start again. Don't strive for perfection, strive for doing your best. Every little bit counts more than you could ever know or measure.