The great Greek sculptor Phidias had high standards when he was carving the statue of Athena for the Parthenon about 2,400 years ago.

According to an old story, he was busy chiseling the strands of her hair at the back of her head when an onlooker commented, "That figure is to stand 100 feet high, with its back to a wall. Who will ever know what details you are putting behind there?"

Phidias replied, "I will."

Perfectionism or a waste of time? I vote for doing the best you can at every opportunity, regardless of your line of work.

Perhaps because works of art often outlast the artist's life span, such creators are more inclined to strive for utter perfection. When Frederic Auguste Bartholdi completed the Statue of Liberty in the late 1800s, there were no airplanes or helicopters to inspect its detail from the air.

Yet many years later, when helicopters can hover close overhead, it is clearly evident that the sculptor meticulously finished every detail of the lady's coiffure and crown without "cheating" in any area that could not be seen from the ground.

Clearly, Bartholdi was a perfectionist. He wanted to create a thing of beauty that was perfect from every point of view and over any period of time. He did his absolute best because he could. That's a good principle to follow when creating anything of lasting value.

"Perfect" may be the ultimate praise, but trying to attain perfection can cause stress, hinder efficiency and create unnecessary conflicts with the people around you. A more productive goal is excellence -- meeting the highest standards agreed upon for oneself or by a group.

I find that if I set a goal for myself, get the best coaching available, practice the right concepts and give it all I've got, there is nothing more I can do. I've done the best I can humanly do, so there is no reason to stress out and be nervous. I take my lead from my longtime friend, Coach Lou Holtz, who said: "Ability is what you are capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it."

Attitude is central to assessing your ability and pushing it to its maximum. To move from strict perfectionism to the pursuit of excellence, may I recommend you consider these suggestions:

-- Be realistic. When you find yourself becoming frantic about a goal, stop and ask, "Is this goal really worth all the frustration I'm experiencing?" You cannot do your best work when you are preoccupied with worry.

-- Establish clear expectations. If you know what's expected of you, you can better track your progress and draw boundaries when needed. Then you can move forward with the project instead of trying to alter it just for appearance's sake.

-- Identify your triggers. Learn to recognize the factors that lead or contribute to your perfectionist thinking and behaviors, and avoid them. That does not mean you give any less than your best; just be aware that you can undermine a terrific outcome by nitpicking minor details.

-- Delegate. Many perfectionists mistakenly believe that they, and only they, can complete the task at hand. Allow other people to assist you, which will improve the odds that a group will more easily reach excellence.

-- Know what's important. Consult with friends, colleagues and your boss about the most crucial points of the project at hand. Analyzing your objectives, then narrowing down key points and agreements, allows everyone to measure his or her performance accurately.

One note of caution: When you think you've arrived at excellence and can now relax ... BEWARE! Contemplate the lesson learned from the window washer of the Empire State Building in New York. After doing a superb job with the windows on the 116th floor, he made the mistake of stepping back to admire his work.

Mackay's Moral: Never apologize for doing your best.

There once was a strange storekeeper who talked to himself. He talked to himself while he rang up groceries. He talked to himself whenever he leaned into the candy case for the children who wanted to purchase a treat.

One day, a woman named Francie came in and watched the storekeeper talking to himself.

"What's wrong with you?" asked Francie.

"Ain't nothing wrong with me," answered the storekeeper.

"Well, then, why are you going around acting like a fool and talking to yourself?" probed Francie.

"I reckon I got two reasons," said the storekeeper. "First off, I like to talk to a sensible person. And second, I like to hear a sensible person talk."

Now I don't recommend going around talking out loud to yourself in public, but I do recommend talking to yourself.

During most of my corporate speeches, I ask the audience, How many people talk to themselves? People are uneasy acknowledging this, but I do typically get about a third of the room to raise their hands. Then I say, "To the two-thirds of you who didn't raise your hands, I can just hear you say to yourself: 'Who me? I don't talk to myself.'" It always gets a good laugh.

But the point is, I want you to talk to yourself. Self-talk can have a great impact on your confidence. It can be positive or negative, and have a great effect on how you feel. Obviously, I want to focus on the positive self-talk.

Some of the smartest people in history have talked to themselves. Albert Einstein talked to himself. According to Einstein.org, he "used to repeat his sentences to himself softly." If it worked for Einstein, it's good enough for me.

Talking to yourself makes your brain work more efficiently. It boosts your memory, organizes your thoughts and helps you to achieve your goals.

In a study printed in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, psychologists Daniel Swingley and Gary Lupyan discovered that talking to yourself is beneficial. Swingley and Lupyan found that allowing people to repeat an object's name to themselves helped them find the object in a crowded tableau.

Can I ever relate to that research! Whenever I make a to-do list or plan my day, I make sure I not only write it down, but also say it out loud. Use as many triggers as you can to help you remember or to reinforce your message.

Let me give you another important reason to "think out loud." You are your own best and toughest critic -- and most enthusiastic cheerleader. You serve two significant roles. You can assess your abilities and chances for success because you can be brutally honest with yourself.

So when you talk to yourself, you will know the difference between true potential and flattery, commitment and apathy. You can only fool yourself so long. In your heart of hearts, you know what you can and cannot do.

In her book "Recreating Yourself," Nancy J. Napier discusses self-talk: "It is the dialogue you have with yourself about who you are, what you are doing, how well you're doing, whether you're good enough, what people think of you and so on." Your self-talk is a reflection of what you took in about yourself as a child, "particularly those things that were reinforced time and again."

Napier says that in cognitive therapy, identifying negative self-talk and challenging it can bring about positive change. You question the assumptions underlying the statements. Napier uses this example: "Joe stood me up for a date last night. I guess I'm not attractive enough to get the man I want."

Once you become aware of what you are telling yourself, Napier suggests you replace the statement with a positive statement. "Yes, Joe did stand me up. I guess that's reason enough to realize that Joe isn't the kind of guy I want to have around."

I will never stop talking to myself. After all, I have a captive audience.

Mackay's Moral: When you talk to yourself, make sure you listen carefully.

While I was perusing the business section in a bookstore recently, I was immediately attracted to one with "shark" in the title. I am referring to Robert Herjavec's new book, "You Don't Have to Be a Shark: Creating Your Own Success." Robert is one of the stars of the popular TV show "Shark Tank."

As the author of the book "Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive," I take great delight in anyone who reintroduces sharks back into our lexicon. I originally wrote "Swim With the Sharks" back in 1988, and then updated it with new material in 2005.

Robert has wonderful advice in his book. I rather enjoyed reading it because I couldn't help but notice some of the similarities in our ways of thinking. I highly recommend it for folks from all walks of life.

Robert has said, "A goal without a timeline is just a dream." I phrase it a little differently: "A goal is a dream with a deadline." Goals must be measurable, identifiable, attainable, specific and in writing. Winners set and achieve goals; losers make excuses. Goals give you more than a reason to get up in the morning; they are an incentive to keep you going all day.

Robert also notes: "Sales are the beginning of everything that business strives to achieve." I am firm in my belief that there are no jobs unless someone brings the business through the front door. Many people think "sales" is a negative word, but we have no jobs without sales. Sales provide the lifeblood of any business.

The second chapter of Robert's book is titled "Everyone Is Selling Somebody Something." My version: "Everyone is in sales." Why? Because from the moment we get up in the morning until we go to bed, what are we doing all day? We are selling ideas, communicating, negotiating, persuading and influencing.

The fourth chapter is all about the art of selling. Robert makes the point that the "story does not end with a sale." The way I put it is "The sale begins when the customer says yes." In other words, you have to service the account and make sure that you get the reorder. There are plenty of sharks out there working to take your business.

Robert is absolutely correct when he observes, "Salespeople enjoy the company of people." I like to say, "You must be a people person," because people buy from other people because of likability, chemistry and people skills.

And this piece of his advice is solid gold: "Salespeople spend more time listening than talking." I constantly remind people "Many people hear, but very few actually listen." You don't learn anything if you are doing all the talking. When you talk, you repeat what you already know. When you listen, you often learn something. Being a good listener can make or break a career.

Robert makes the following point: "Good salespeople learn everything possible about buyers and their interests ... And good salespeople work at building relationships." The most important lesson in "Swim With the Sharks" is "People don't care how much you know about them, once they realize how much you care about them." This describes my Mackay 66 Customer Profile, which is the cornerstone of all my speeches. You can find a copy of the Mackay 66 on my website, harveymackay.com.

You have to learn as much about your customers and suppliers as you possibly can, because you can't talk about business all the time. You have to build those relationships and take it from a business level to a personal level. Knowing something about your customer is just as important as knowing everything about your product.

Salespeople, Robert writes, "visualize their success." This is so true. I believe that visualization is one of the most powerful means of achieving personal goals. The ability to project is a common trait among all great athletes and business people. Such high achievers have future vision. Success is no surprise to visionary people. They know what they want, determine a plan to achieve it and expect positive results.

Visualization allows you to see your ideal tomorrow. It gives you a real idea of what is possible, if only you want it bad enough.

Take it from one who has spent a career swimming with sharks: Robert Herjavec's advice will keep you from becoming shark bait.

Mackay's Moral: You'd better be a great "sale-r" to get through shark-infested waters.