Striving for perfection

In the Bible, Matthew 5 verse 48 reads, "Be perfect, even as your Lord in Heaven is perfect." To me, that's one of the most motivational verses I have ever memorized. Of course, the Bible goes on to teach that there's no such thing is perfect, and I agree with that. There's always a way you can be/do something better.

That leads me to the second quote I'll include in this post, it's from a professor I had at Radford who told me, "Greatness comes from the sacrifices of those who strive to be perfect." He didn't think much of it when he said it, but I literally typed it up and printed it as soon as he said it, and talked to him about it after class.

I remember having successful games in my playing career, and people would come up and say, "wow you scored such and such points, and you didn't have a turnover, and blah blah blah." It's a great feeling to earn that praise, but when someone asked me how I though my game or practice went, I'd always start off with my biggest weakness or my team's biggest weakness and what I can do to improve it. To me, that's striving to be perfect.

Through this constant commitment, you stay modest and grounded and real with yourself, but you also should gain confidence in yourself as well. You will never be a perfect shooter making everything dead on, and trust me I've put up millions maybe even billions of shots in my life so far trying, but through all those shots, I became a better shooter, and learned to have confidence that if I was asked to take a certain shot, I have a pretty good chance of making it.

I know there are people who disagree with this philosophy, but for me, at the gym working out tonight, the thought that I have to be perfect made me work that much harder and get that much better, and I'll take it.

I tried a Met RX cookies and cream protein bar tonight, and I'll admit I was a little disappointed. I'm not huge on protein bars and stuff, but I'll grab one on occasion, and right now, my top two are Power Bar Bites and Wheaties Fuel Bars.

Every time I hear 3 Doors Down "When you're young", the chorus of the song seems to apply to my television career right now:

You give what you give 'cuz they make you,
Trapped inside a place that won't take you.
They want you to be what they make you.
It's already over and done, when you're young.

3 Doors Down is a solid band, and they're one of those bands that always have had songs that seem to speak to me, so I can appreciate that.

Good news, my left knee and right ankle are almost pain free. I am almost able to fully leave the ground on a jumper/rebound/finish without pain. Hopefully when I work out tomorrow, I can test out my wheels for real.

Well that's it for tonight. The way I look at tomorrow, it has to be a good day, and I have to be the one to make it that way.

-- TP