Strive for perfection, settle for excellence Published Oct. 6, 2017 60th Operations Support Squadron To err is human, as we are not inherently perfect. Nevertheless, if we chase perfection, excellence is a probable outcome. To pursue perfection, we must elevate risk to the appropriate level, proactively avoid complacency and learn from honest mistakes. We must strive for perfection—cognizant it’s not possible—and settle for excellence. Finite manning, funding and resources make it extremely difficult to accomplish all that’s expected of Airmen. Commanders and leaders often stress prioritization of what needs to be done and embracing the “red,” meaning, identifying shortfalls. This allows all of us to elevate risks to the appropriate levels. No leader expects blind followership. However, we cannot arbitrarily decide to neglect a step in a checklist, disregard a regulation or simply do things our way. If you honestly don’t feel an established requirement is justified and would like the process eliminated, please identify and communicate it, and allow your leadership to accept the risk instead of owning it yourself. Elevating risks and potentially eliminating needless tasks could make it easier to correctly execute necessary duties. Doing the little things right significantly reduces the chances of complacency. Unfortunately, it’s easy to become complacent because you are well-trained, tasks become routine and you are undoubtedly good at what you do. However, when we don’t do the small things correctly, we become more complacent and unknowingly open ourselves up to more substantial discrepancies. Once we start down a complacent path, we may not notice the escalation in errors until someone calls us out or worse, we contribute to an adverse and potentially disastrous event. We all have checklists and procedures in our jobs that may seem mundane and unnecessary. However, they were likely developed to counter complacency. In other words, just because a step or procedure is skipped often and nothing goes wrong doesn’t mean success will always be the outcome. An unforeseen variable coupled with a complacent practice could lead to serious injury, death or damage to property. Our Air Force has seen its fair share of significant mishaps and, more often than not, complacency and minor missteps were casual factors in these catastrophic events. Even if we do everything correctly with the resources we have, we may fail. Striving for perfection does not mean you cannot fail. Failure is a valuable part of learning. However, there is a difference between failing to try and making an authentic effort. Honest mistakes—not blatant disregard, ignorance or laziness—should be acceptable. The other aspects of it being okay to make mistakes and fail are making sure we learn from our mistakes, do not repeat them, are not afraid to teach others, move forward and continue to strive for perfection. Perfection may not be possible. However, if we strive for it, there’s little doubt that we’ll fall into excellence. The opposite, even if the omission is seemingly trivial, could have disastrous consequences. We should all take time to reflect and self-assess our actions to ensure we’re elevating necessary risk, avoiding complacency and learning from honest mistakes. Don’t stick with the status quo just because nothing adverse has occurred. Every Airman’s actions have an effect on a larger aspect of the Air Force mission. Please, strive for perfection, and settle for no less than excellence.