Perfection

Hello this is Sandy Gallagher CEO of the Proctor Gallagher Institute.

I have a great lesson for you today. Michelangelo Buonarroti was born over 500 years ago and he was almost 90 years old when he died. He left us with some amazing masterpieces that’ll live forever and ever. He had sculptures like David and Madonna and Child. You know, paintings like the Sistine Chapel ceiling as well as magnificent architecture, countless drawings, cartoons even poetry.

How does one accomplish such perfection and lasting beauty? It’s an important question and I think it can be best answered through a story about the time Michelangelo was putting some finishing touches to one of his statues and a friend came by and, a few days later the friend came by again and when he saw the statue he commented that, “The sculpture, he couldn’t have done much to it since he was there last.”

And Michelangelo, you know, he raised his eyebrow and he said, “Well I’ve retouched this part, I’ve polished that, I’ve softened features and brought out this muscle. I’ve given more expression to the lip and more energy to that limb.”

And the friend said, “Well, oh yeah, but you know, those are just trifles.”

And Michelangelo he said, “Well perhaps so but trifles make perfection, and perfection is no trifle.” I love that.

The architect Mies Van Der Rohe, he said, “God is in the details.” What a great lesson for us, I mean how often do we skip over the details, the trifles, because we think no one will notice the difference? Yet when those trifles are strung together they spell perfection.

So here’s what I’d like you to do for the next 4 or 5 minutes. Look around the room for jobs you’ve done. We’ve gotten a bit sloppy with the details. Maybe when you’ve vacuumed or something and you know and you didn’t bother getting the dust balls in the corner you just kind of swept them under the counter or whatever or you know or if you’re wearing a collared shirt is the collar crisply pressed? Play “beat the clock,” and see how many things you can find and as always you know it’s not to find fault or to get upset with yourself at all, okay? It’s simply to become conscious of your thoughts and actions. Although true perfection might be elusive, maybe it’s even unattainable, but taking care of those trifles will definitely improve the quality of your work and it will surely be rewarded accordingly, all right?

This is Sandy Gallagher helping you get Results that Stick.