Perfectionism is death

It’s 9.15pm. I’m tired. I just adopted a rescue dog and I’ve got a million things going on. But I also promised I’d write a blog post every day this month.

So it seemed a fitting time to write about my views on creativity and perfectionism.

Yep, perfectionism is the death of creativity. Perfection is a perfect 10. And where do you go from that? You’re on the top of the mountain. You’ve achieved the best you’ll ever achieve. It’s only downhill from here.

Perfectionism is death, but it’s also stagnation. It’s more antithetical for creativity than freezing because it’s pre-freezing. Why bother even starting when the end result is stagnation or death? You’re better off not starting at all. Then the perfect can still exist, at least in your own mind.

Perhaps even more importantly, it’s fear. We are unassailable if we’re perfect and only if we’re perfect. Even a crack below that perfect 10 can open us up to vulnerabilities, criticism, humiliation, and everything related to putting your creativity out into the world.

And here’s the thing that sucks: your brain is right. That shit is terrifying. Criticism is truly horrible. I just got a mediocre review and I’ll forget the next 625 good things that happen to me so I can focus on that instead.

That’s why most of us hold ourselves back in some way. Perfectionism is the, ahem, perfect blend for our brains. We get to scratch both itches — it’s as if we’re doing the thing so perfectly in our imaginations it’s undetectable to the naked eye and we get to not actually do the thing that would make our creative underbellies vulnerable.

I’m spending far too much time with a dog these days, so sorry about this but: Drop it. Leave it. Just let perfectionism be. Acknowledge what you’re afraid of, and honor the fuck out of those feelings. They keep you alive.

And then give yourself permission to be less than a 10. Who wants to stagnate right out of the gate?