My Secret to Life – lowering expectations

Many years ago, I worked for an insurance brokerage firm that spent frequent time and much money on self-improvement, time management, and general management classes and books. In Pursuit of Excellence was a "must have" book for all businesses and their employees. The book's premise was that the focus should not be on perfection but on excellence. It presented the concept of perfection as unachievable and subjective; one person's "perfect" may not be another's.

I am pragmatic, so perfection has never been a goal of mine. In fact, I don't even strive for excellence as a rule. I will never have...