The Dangerous Truth About Perfectionism - Rabbi YY Jacobson

[music] >> You know, sometimes you see a mattress >> [music] >> and you're just rubbing your eyes pretty perplexed. What is this supposed to mean? In Parshas Bereishis, the Torah says Hashem looks at all of creation and behold, [music] it's good and it's very good. Says the Medrash, "Tov is an malach chayim, me'od is malach movess." Tov, good, that's the angel of life. Tov me'od, very good, excessively good, that's the angel of death. Really? >> [laughter] >> If this is me'od, if this is tov me'od, you know, give me a break. I don't want this tov me'od. I want sort of beautiful interpretation. There's two philosophies in life. One philosophy in life is tov, [music] I want things to be good. I'm going to try, I'm going to put in my effort, I want to be successful, and I want to do things right. I hope that this is my video comes out tov. But then there's another philosophy in life, tov [music] me'od. It has to be perfect, excessively good, infinitely good, impeccable, flawless. You know what happens then? Malach movess. That literally [music] kills every dream. It kills every plan. Perfection, they say, is the enemy of progress. If you want things to be tov, that's great. That's malach chayim. That's the way to live. That's going to invite life and productivity [music] and achievement. But if your standard is tov me'od, it's malach movess. Basically, it creates stress and anxiety [music] because it's never perfect. Not only that, I won't even try. It's what puts a lid and puts the nail in the coffin of so many great dreams and ideas because people think if it's not tov me'od, it's worthless. And they kill [music] the dream, they kill the project. It's also true with life. The moment I cannot tolerate the fact that I [music] made mistakes, that I learn from my mistakes, I can say I'm sorry, I can apologize, I can [music] rediscover myself, I can learn from my errors, I can reinvent myself, it's malach movess. I kill my ability for transformation, for growth. Tov, Malachi Tov Mid, Malachi Mofis. Try to do the right thing. [music] If you do the wrong thing, fix it. When you create a standard of impossibility, >> [music] >> you're killing your future.