Perfection

I know in blogs we often try to make ourselves look perfect.  You may think my house is always clean, I never raise my voice, my children never whine or I never feel lazy.  Well, it just isn't true.  Right now I have this in my living room.

It's a giant pile of laundry and it's been there for two days.

And here's my bedroom.

My bed's not made and it hardly ever is.

I think we'd all feel better about life if we could all just understand that we all have our weaknesses.  We are all great at some things and not so good at others.  We can all learn to do things that we couldn't do before. I am inspired by these words by President Dieter Uchtdorf

Another thing we need to remember when it comes to setting goals is this: We almost certainly will fail—at least in the short term. But rather than be discouraged, we can be empowered because this understanding removes the pressure of being perfect right now. It acknowledges from the beginning that at one time or another, we may fall short. Knowing this up front takes away much of the surprise and discouragement of failure.

When we approach our goals this way, failure doesn’t have to limit us. Remember, even if we fail to reach our ultimate, desired destination right away, we will have made progress along the road that will lead to it.

And that matters—it means a lot.

Even though we might fall short of our finish line, just continuing the journey will make us greater than we were before.

The Best Time to Begin Is Now

An old proverb says, “The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.”

There is something wonderful and hopeful about the word now. There is something empowering about the fact that if we choose to decide now, we can move forward at this very moment.

Now is the best time to start becoming the person we eventually want to be—not only 20 years from now but also for all eternity. (to read or listen to the whole talk go here The-best-time-to-plant-a-tree?