Whatever happens, there are always things you could have done better. You score two goals and you usually feel you could have done better. You score two goals and you usually feel you could have scored a third. That's perfectionism. That's what makes you progress in life.
Interpretation
Perfectionism drives individuals to constantly strive for improvement despite their achievements.
In this quote, Eric Cantona reflects on the nature of perfectionism and how it can be a powerful motivator in life. He suggests that even in moments of success, such as scoring two goals, individuals are often left with a sense of dissatisfaction, wishing they had done even better. This relentless pursuit of excellence can lead to personal growth and progress, as it encourages individuals to continually seek improvement and not settle for mediocrity.
In practice
Referencing this quote during a motivational speech about striving for success.
An artist in my eyes, is someone who can lighten up a dark room. I have never and will never find difference between the pass from Pele to Carlos Alberto in the final of the World Cup in 1970 and the poetry of the young Rimbaud, who stretches cords from steeple to steeple and garlands from window to window. There is in each of these human manifestations an expression of beauty which touches us and gives us a feeling of eternity.
I'm so proud the fans still sing my name, but I fear tomorrow they will stop. I fear it because I love it. And everything you love, you fear you will lose.
I don't play against any team in particular. I play to fight against defeat.
I don't play against a particular team. I play against the idea of losing
Often there are players who have only football as a way of expressing themselves and never develop other interests. And when they no longer play football, they no longer do anything; they no longer exist, or rather they have the sensation of no longer existing.
The real fans of football come from the working class. Now they cannot afford to come and watch the game.
The best speakers know enough to be scared…the only difference between the pros and the novices is that the pros have trained the butterflies to fly in formation.
There isn't a hole out there [Augusta] that can't be birdied if you just think. But there isn't one that can't be double-bogeyed if you stop thinking.
People think that coaches are always right, but it's difficult to teach a runner how to run, because every runner is different. You have to have an understanding of how to assist what that runner has, so they know how to assist what you have without taking away your special ability, because you're not like anybody else.
Somebody scoffed, Oh, you'll never to that - At least no one ever has done it; But he took off his coat and he took off his hat, And the first thing we knew, he'd begun it.
If every basketball player worked as hard as I did, I'd be out of a job
I will act now. I will act now. I will act now. Henceforth, I will repeat these words each hour, each day, everyday, until the words become as much a habit as my breathing, and the action which follows becomes as instinctive as the blinking of my eyelids.
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