Imperfect Fit

I didn't used to care about a perfect fit. I figured I had done so many things in my life, and was open to doing so many others, that it wasn't important to look for the perfect fit job. It was more important to look for potential fits and then learn new skills or new information to adjust accordingly.
 
Then the job searching world came along, reminding me that a person who had edited 33-minute shows couldn't possibly edit 32-minute ones, pointing out that someone who had told stories for grownups couldn't possibly tell stories for children, telling me that a person a year out of college who had garnered an Associate Producer title was more qualified for a job called "Producer" than I, who had produced from a variety of seats but had rarely held the title. And somewhere along the way, I bought into it all. I stopped writing raise the roof cover letters for jobs that seemed interesting, but were not perfect fits. I stopped applying on automated websites to positions for which I wouldn't perfectly hit all the keywords. I gave up believing that I could make a great success without a perfect fit.
 
The problem is, you miss out on a lot of adventure by looking only for the perfect fit. You stop learning and growing when you accept that all you can do is what you can do right now. The time for perfect fits needs to be over. It's time to start reaching again, to start looking harder for the words that will make me match, or at least make me stand out. It's time to take a little risk and to get the world to take a little risk on me. It's time to stop waiting for the perfect fit and start working with the imperfect ones. Because perfect may not come along too often. And if we keep waiting for perfect, we'll be missing out on a lot of what may be imperfect, but is still very, very real.