Excellence, not perfection

     Perfectionists can drive themselves crazy because if they expect to do anything perfectly, they always fall short, and often end up feeling disappointed.  I friend of mine is a perfectionist. He took a math course and his final grade was 980 out of 1,000 points. He was so disappointed because he didn't get a perfect 1,000 points. In this world, nothing is perfect. Instead of striving for perfection, it's better to strive for excellence. Or if you strive for perfection as your goal, don't be discouraged when you fall short, as you always will.

     Writing is the same way.  Any writing can be improved, no matter how good the writer is.  A final draft of an essay will probably have at least one grammar, spelling, or punctuation error. It could have been organized a little differently to make it easier to read.  It could have included more, or different, examples to make the main points clearer. So do your best, but be satisfied with excellence and don't worry if what you wrote isn't perfect. You could say that there is no end to the writing process. You can always write one more draft of an essay to improve it.