Aim for success, not perfection. Never give up your right to be wrong, because then you will lose the ability to learn new things and move forward with your life. Remember that fear always lurks behind perfectionism. Confronting your fears and allowing yourself the right to be human can, paradoxically, make yourself a happier and more productive person. - Dr. David M. Burns

I'm a perfectionist about a few things (all right, fine... many, many things), to the extent that I'd rather just not try some things than try and fail. It's a debilitating fear, and the quote above makes a great point, that there is so much fear behind the drive to be perfect. I guess I would characterize the difference between success and perfection by saying that perfection is achieving the objective you set out to achieve as best as it can possibly be achieved while success is giving a task all that you have to give. It's like needing to get 100% on a test versus preparing as best you can for the test and then not worrying about the result. I know I should be all right with the latter, but I would be lying if I were to say I'm that mature. I think a good portion of the time I am that way, but there are definitely instances when I just want to win at whatever it is I'm competing at. I guess I have life lessons to learn yet before becoming a happier and more productive person. In the meantime, I guess my mantra is as follows:

Aim for perfection and realize that it's often enough to be successful. Perfection is seldom achieved. It depends on so much more than just your output, but success, success can often be achieved through sheer determination. And once in a while, after you've achieved success, you'll find that you'll have done something perfectly.