Spot the deliberate mistake
I have a big toolbox in the corner of my office.
It’s filled with paintbrushes, paints, a batik wax pot, pencils, bottles of ink, charcoals and chalk and all sorts of other bits and bobs. Mostly collected 20+ years ago, and rarely touched these days.
Why?
Because back when I spent a few days a week getting covered in paint and making a mess, I used to be quite good at drawing and painting. And now I’m not.
And the idea of creating something that’s not very good (or not as good as I know I’m capable of)?
No thank you.
That’s WAY too confronting and uncomfortable. So I’ll just leave the paints in the box, thank-you-very-much.
Isn’t that ridiculous? Something that used to bring so much joy, abandoned because I’m out of practice and can’t bear the idea of creating something ‘substandard’.
And it’s not just me – a few weeks ago one of my networking buddies told me she'd bought a load of crocheting supplies that are now relegated to the bottom of a cupboard because her very first attempt didn’t go accordingly to plan.
Perfectionism, eh? It’s a pesky, pesky blighter, with the power to suck the joy and momentum out of everything.
And when it comes to our work, perfectionism can show up - and hold us back - in so many ways.
It can stop you from outsourcing (“I don’t trust anyone to do this properly/as well as me, so I’ll just keep doing it myself”)
It can prevent you from finishing what you start (wanting every teeny tiny detail to be 100% perfect has been the death of many a fabulous idea!)
It can keep you buying courses, prioritising learning over action (don’t get me wrong, learning is great and so important for our development. But if you’re doing it because you feel you don’t know enough or that you’re not good enough, that could be perfectionism trying to keep you safe…and rooted to the spot.)
To put it bluntly, striving for perfection when perfection doesn’t exist is a massive waste of time and energy. (Ouch.)
I don't know about you, but honestly? I find things that are too perfect a little suspicious! There's nothing wrong with having high standards, but I want to see the human being behind the work and 'perfect' can so easily become bland and soulless.
So if you struggle with perfectionism (which can also look suspiciously like procrastination), I have a few tips for you:
Ask yourself, 'what does good enough look like?'
Remember the mantra, “done is better than perfect.”
Do something imperfect on purpose. Making a mistake intentionally and realising that the world didn't end is strangely liberating! (Can you spot the deliberate mistake in this blog? Let me know in the comments!)
If any of this is resonating for you, how about we make a deal?
I promise to dust off my sketchbooks and make some not-perfect art, if you promise to notice where perfectionsm might be stopping you from making the important things happen, and then see what you can do to keep moving forward.
Let me know if you're in!