You know their names. They are Legends. Geniuses. People we admire for their success. But let’s be honest—do we admire their lives?

What if I told you that the same drive that made these people great… also made them miserable? That their obsession with perfection didn’t make them happy, but instead ruined their relationships, destroyed their peace, and made them feel like failures?

Take Steve Jobs. A genius? No doubt. But he was never satisfied. No matter how good something was, it wasn’t perfect. His perfectionism made him a legend—but it also made him brutal to work with. He was so obsessed with his vision that he hurt the people closest to him. He cut friends out of his life. He refused to acknowledge his own daughter for years.

What’s the point of success if you have no one to share it with?

Or look at Michael Jordan. The greatest basketball player of all time, but his perfectionism wasn’t just about winning. He had to be the best. And that need drove him to bully teammates, hold grudges for decades, and never feel satisfied. Even after six championships… he still felt like he had something to prove.

When is it enough? When do you get to be happy?

Beethoven wrote some of the most beautiful music in history. But do you think he ever sat back and enjoyed it? No. He was obsessed. He rewrote and rewrote because it was never “good enough.” He hated himself for his flaws. Even when he was deaf and could barely work, he still tortured himself trying to reach an impossible standard.

This is the trap of perfectionism. You’re never good enough. No matter what you achieve, it always feels out of reach.

Marilyn Monroe was the most famous woman in the world. Beautiful. Talented. Adored by millions. But she never believed it. She chased perfection in her looks, her acting, her career. And you know what that gave her? Loneliness. Self-doubt. Anxiety. No matter how much people loved her, she never loved herself.

If you think perfection will make you feel worthy, it won’t.

Even Walt Disney—the guy who made the “happiest place on Earth”—wasn’t happy himself. He obsessed over every tiny detail. He worked himself to the point of a mental breakdown. Why? Because nothing he did ever felt perfect.

When does it stop? When do we finally allow ourselves to be happy?

Here’s the truth: Perfection by definition is unatainable. It is the mirage in the desert that promises life, but always escapes you. And the people who chase it the hardest suffer the most.

If you are a perfectionist, I know something about you. You never feel good enough. You constantly self-loath. The feelings of inadequacy haunt you day and night. Even if you heard 1,000 compliments from other people, it still wouldn’t be louder than that 1 self-criticism you tell yourself. 

You need to learn from those who have gone before you. Don’t strive for perfection; strive for improvement. If you keep practicing, you just might improve! But all the practice in the world will never get you closer to perfection.

Oh, and if your motivation to be perfect is driven by your desperate need for approval from someone else, I’ll tell you right now - they are not worth it. If the person you are trying to impress only cares about you for what you can do, rather than who you are as a flawed human being - that relationship is not worth one more day of striving. Let them go.

I’m Brooks Gibbs, and I hope this video keeps you #FeelingStrong.

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