For years I compared myself, criticized myself relentlessly and gave myself unrealistic expectations. For the longest time, I ended up throwing things under the bed because I wasn’t able to reach the level of perfectionism I wanted.
I have done projects long enough, only to give up on them because they never came out how I wanted them to. This has been a big battle to fight and a bad habit to get rid of. It always made me feel unproductive and unfulfilled.
I didn’t know perfectionism kills your craft until I learned, so I’m sharing this because I wouldn’t want any of you to be victims of it. Trust me; it doesn’t feel good.
One example in my life of this is I remember back in University; I was working on a project that took too much of my energy and time. It required me to go to the field to collect footage from people. I did what was needed, followed every bit of the instructions, and finally had my footage. Everything appeared fine to me until I sat to edit my work and realized it wasn’t the best.
So, I went back to the field to collect fresh footage. Time wasn’t on my side and the submission day was fast approaching. Here I have limited time in my hands, too much footage but no complete work. To cut the long story short, I took so much pressure to have a perfect project and was eventually left with no complete project to submit.
It is hard to finish a project you are proud of when there’s a voice telling you it’s not good enough. It is utterly frustrating, but do you realize it killed my creativity? This is just one of the many examples I can talk of.
Creativity is a product of imperfection
Creativity is birthed from imperfection. You will never get better or create anything unless you try. Absolutely nothing is perfect at the first attempt. The more imperfect it comes out, the more you learn, and the more you make something beautiful.
When it comes to creativity, all you can do is your best. That has to be enough. Perfectionism doesn’t always seem too bad when all efforts are to make you do better. But when it is accompanied by negative criticism or if it makes you feel like what you do is not good enough, it is time to realize that you may be holding yourself back from more incredible things.
Isn’t it true that if we look for perfectionism, we will always be on the look? That job that seems perfect will only impress you for weeks, perhaps months, and within no time, you will be looking for another perfect job?
So instead of always trying to be perfect, why can’t we become more aware of what we can do and give it our best? Avoid missing out on essential things in life because you want to be perfect at all of them.
How then can we overcome that feeling of perfection in everything?
1. Avoid the fear of making mistakes. Create imperfectly; let the imperfections make you grow at what you do.
2. Set clear targets of what you want to achieve and see how you want to achieve them. It is okay not to get them right at first.
3. Appreciate the little progress you make. Treat yourself a little for the excellent work done so far. That gives you the motivation to do the remaining part well.
4. Learn to appreciate your work even when others don’t see the good in it. Other than making others happy, ask yourself first, how does it make you feel?
5. Finally, Celebrate the joy of doing what you love despite the flaws. You have to enjoy what you do; that way, you will find yourself doing your best without the feeling of imperfection.
