Train for perfection - even though you'll never be perfect

I love Hock Hockheim's thinking on conceptual matters relating to training philosophy. For example, in his blog post for April '06 titled "Pushing the Envelope," he iterates a position on training that I have always espoused, that you should train for perfection so that you'll get as close as possible.

The reason for it is simple and logical - under duress, technique gets sloppy. For example, let's say perfection is 100%, and during drills and training, you achieve 85%. If you had to apply the same technique while under attack, or if surprised, you may perform the technique at 50-65%. In other words, when stressed, we'll rush our aim (if we aim at all), and probably fire sooner, and more off-balance than during training, so we'll be less accurate and powerful. This is the reason you train realistically, and while drilling, try to hit 100%.

Another example is when I was going over closing the gap to the clinch before a takedown with one of my students. He was going fast before the technique was memorized, or before it was clean. I kept say, "smooth, not fast!" "Get it right first!" He did.