Latest / R3ciprocity.com - Prof David Maslach: Innovation; Research Life; Striving Towards Happiness
You’re Not Lazy: You’re Just Trained to Fear Imperfection
In school, we’re taught that mastery is the goal.
Understand the material. Get the A. Move up.
But the real world?
It doesn’t work like that.
We don’t live in a world of perfect answers. We live in a world of ambiguity—where the rules shift, outcomes lag, and nothing ever turns out exactly like the model said it would.
That’s why this obsession with perfection can quietly destroy creativity. It stops us from trying something new. It teaches us to wait until we’re “ready.” It traps us in a single domain because we’re afraid of looking like a beginner again.
I’ve struggled with this—both as a…
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