You don’t need to aim for perfection

It’s hard to feel confident in your work when you’re surrounded by experts. When striving for perfection is the order of the day. In the digital economy, you need to put your work out there before people can buy into it. On the one hand, it’s so easy — one click of a button does the trick.

On the other hand, it’s an uphill climb that presents a set of challenges. The most prominent being the unworthiness that stems from seeing your work as imperfect. When you don’t see your work as perfect, you don’t take pride in it, much less feel confident showing it to the world.

This need not be the case.

Your work matters a big deal. Your creativity shouldn’t be left dormant. The world needs what you have to offer. Let’s look at ways we can override our need for perfection to keep producing stuff that will benefit the world.

What really matters?

At times we get so caught up in the execution that we forget what matters most is the quality of our ideas. As a writer, I struggle with this. I want to have good prose and write coherent sentences that aren’t intertwined in my mother tongue.

However, the more I extend towards this level of perfection, the more I create mental blocks that keep me from producing my most polished work. Your polished work is work that stems from your core effortlessly and flows uninterrupted. It’s work that resonates with your original intention.

When you’re trying to move things around in your head, so they come out in a specific shape, you interfere with your creativity. You dilute your core message. This struggle isn’t just for writers; it’s for every person who loves creating stuff.

Each time you shift the flow of ideas with the hope of transforming them into perfect ones, you end up either diluting or jumbling them up. Fortunately, there’s a solution for this. It starts by shifting your focus from execution to hatching solid ideas.

When the latter becomes the aim, you can deliver your concepts in their potent state.

No matter how perfect your work is, someone somewhere still won’t approve

“If you look for perfection, you’ll never be content.”
― Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

No matter how hard you aim to produce the most polished diamond, there will always be at least one person who doesn’t see it as such. And that’s okay. We all have different interpretations of perfection, just as we have different standards.

The key is to focus on doing your best. You have to stretch yourself as far as you can and be content with your limits. You have to remind yourself that you’re your only competition. This is how you untangle yourself from feelings of failure.

When you learn to embrace your work as is, without comparing it with others, you begin to appreciate your efforts. This appreciation ignites feelings of confidence. You no longer feel inadequate. It’s at this vantage point you need to stand as a creator. Because when you believe in your work, others will start to believe in it over time.

Your biggest task in life is to outdo yourself. It’s to expect better from yourself and work on that regardless of where others are. Always remember, just because others are further ahead doesn’t mean you’ll always lag.

What to do to avoid running on the same spot

Striving to better, oft we mar what’s well. — Shakespeare

Aiming for perfection is like running on the same spot. You think you’re making progress, but you’re only stalling and wasting valuable energy. Writing is an excellent example. The more you tweak sentences, the more words you see that need tweaking.

Eventually, you either end up with a jumbled-up or diluted message. It’s the same for painting, cooking, pottery, etc. The energy you use to tweak a few things is the energy you should utilize to create something new. You have to be okay with polishing just enough rough edges to make your work good enough while restraining yourself from changing its entire shape.

The good thing about creating a piece of work and swiftly moving on to the next is that it’s how you get good. Getting good at something comes after doing it repeatedly. It’s how your work gets better. It’s how you draw closer to perfection.

My buddy, a chef, attributes his excellence of making finger-licking meals to A) Cooking the same recipes many times over and B) Learning as he goes.

So the next time you feel uncertain about your work, stop and remind yourself that it doesn’t have to be perfect. It just needs to be your best. If you pour your heart fully into it, giving it your 100 percent, then you can call it perfect.

We can’t talk about perfection in our work and not touch on our continuous quest to be perfect people. We sell ourselves by the things we say. In our search to be perfect people, we find ourselves speaking words to make others like us. This is a good thing.

Except it’s hard to live authentically if you’re constantly people-pleasing and aren’t genuine. Being genuine means saying what needs to be said without bending the truth. Most of us struggle with this. The best way to do overcome this is to focus on how you say what you say.

Far more important than what you say is how you say it. Your tone, language, and choice of words can have a dramatic effect on what you’re trying to say. The same message delivered in two different tones, and choices of words can have completely different outcomes.

In conclusion

If you strive for perfection, you’ll never take pride in your work or show it to the world. Yet, the world needs your creativity. Every time you feel that your work is short of perfect, remind yourself what Confucius said, “Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without.”

We will only believe in your work when you believe in it too. Become content with your best. Focus on creating more content rather than perfecting what you create because that’s how you get good.

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