Perfection

Perfect doesn’t exist. All too often we seek the perfect exercise, or the right way to move to get the perfect outcome with the unfortunate realization that it is always out of reach. Attempting to better yourself and learning how to move differently is a worthwhile cause that may improve your capabilities, but perfection will remain elusive.

I spend the vast majority of my time coaching clients through exercises or teaching them how to feel what different movement feels like via my hands. Every client has different needs, and their own strategies change with time. Literally from moment to moment they may require a change in how they move. The exercise I gave them last week, actually no longer applies to now, and we need to shift our attention due to their everchanging needs. This is all to say that seeking the perfect movement is not our intention, but finding what is best here and now. The circumstances are always changing, so allow yourself the grace to do something now which will guide your decisions later.

Most of us want to do our best, we want to get better and improve. Sometimes that ends up sending us on a quest with no finish line. The beauty of that is, there really is no finish line. Learning how to move, altering your lifestyle to accomplish a task, or any other change in established patterns requires effort. That effort is being put toward your evolving self. That evolution is never ending, and also one of the most interesting aspects of self-improvement. The act of looking for perfection in movement may not be the most effective means of getting where you want to be. Establish where you are, see where you want to go, and take incremental steps to get there. Knowing that you are changing all along, compelling you to make alterations in real time.

Coaching clients to move in novel ways demands attention, and insists on the acceptance of imperfection. In fact, it may be the imperfection that ends up revealing the best coaching cue in that moment, or the best exercise to get to the next step. When in doubt, try something, take note of the adaptation and move forward.

Austin Ulrich, Physical Therapist