We live in an imperfect world. Which means that things are always less than ideal, less than perfect.

There are three ways to come to peace with this fact: First, to change the world to be what you want it to be. Second, to change your expectations to agree with what the world gives you.

But there’s a surprising alternative:

To decide to be at peace with imperfection.

If you think about it, that’s the easiest to do, because it’s just a mindset shift. And it’s something you probably do a million times a day.

I’ll get annoyed by that commercial I see on TV, but I quickly decide it’s not worth wasting my energy on. My annoyance changes nothing, except to raise my blood pressure.

We tend to do this for things which are large and totally outside our control, like government regulations. Occasionally it might be worth a fight, but usually it’s better to just recognize that we’re imposed with things we find imperfect, and move on to things which we can actually have an impact on.

But there’s always a level of frustration and annoyance with that, right? Well, there doesn’t have to be. This is where the rational mind can help.

With government regulations, I choose to think about it this way:

  • It’s a bit comforting to work in an industry which is somewhat predictable.
  • Government regulations help to put some boundaries around that.
  • So at least everybody’s playing by the same rules.

It’s not perfect, and I realize that I”m rationalizing, but it works for me. I can move on to more important things.

But I still confess that paying my taxes isn’t my favorite thing.