75 percenters – that’s what the Finance Minister recently described many Singaporeans to be. This 75 percent refers to the artificial standard ceiling that we’ve set for ourselves; a level we’re quite comfortable to be at. But would this benchmark be detrimental to progress or is the improvement in performance simply not worth the extra effort required to attain the higher standard? Essentially, such a question would entail deciding between a pursuit of excellence or one in perfection. Excellence and perfection has different meanings, though the distinction is subtle. While the former implies performing to one’s best, the latter purports performing to the best.

J.R.D. Tata once said, “You aim for perfection, you will attain excellence. If you aim for excellence, you will go lower.” Well, the underlying philosophy here is that the higher you aim, the harder you’ll try. We shouldn’t be just contented with achieving a standard we’ve set for ourselves and be happy with it. Once the target has been met, a new and higher goal should be set. In goal-setting theory, we always set proximal and distal objectives. While short-term targets should be realistically achievable, they should be set with the final goal in mind, which should be at the ideal standard.

Therefore, in today’s world, should we strive for a standard of excellence or perfection? As we’re faced with an increasing pressure to conform with continuously improving standards, it will no longer be enough to remain as the status quo. In order to stay ahead of the rest of the pack, I believe the way to go is to push ourselves beyond our comfort zones and work towards being that 100 percenter, although in reality, we should not be forgoing too much in life to achieve it.