I walked into one of my creative coworker's offices one day to see the word "PERFCETION" framed on her wall. I chuckled and winced at the same time. That night I was still thinking about it, so I grabbed my wife's Cricut (actually not a typo) and created a sticker for my laptop saying the exact same thing.
Since then I've sat in numerous creative meetings where someone will look at me weirdly and say something like "Sorry, but do you know you spelled 'Perfection' wrong? It's been bugging me all morning."
I did know. It bugs me as well. That's why I did it.
The pursuit of perfection may well be the single biggest curse of the Creative. It's definitely mine. I've sat in so many annual reviews over the years where 'perfection' was categorically tabled as a vice, or at the very least a non-virtue. "If you weren't such a perfectionist you'd be far more productive," or "Your perfectionism limits your ability to see potential in others," or "You're only feeling overwhelmed because you're a perfectionist. You expect far more from yourself than we do. Not everything has to be perfect."
My supervisors resonated with the Craig Groeschel adage, "Sometimes you just gotta GETMO!" That means, Good Enough to Move On!
I once reflected that finishing my first album recording felt a lot like parenting, and sending the Gold Master off to press the first run of CDs was like sending your 18yo off to University. The mum is busy fixing their child's hair as they walk out the door. "Mum I'm fine, seriously…" They walk off into the future as incomplete 'projects', flaws and all, yet beautiful – perfect even – in their own way.
Every piece of creative work is actually just a work in progress. There is no such thing in creativity as 'complete.' It's actually still just the best you could deliver in the time you had. So I find it ironic that people see me as a perfectionist. My whole creative life (in my mind at least) has been a steady stream of unfinished symphonies – sending scruffy, not-quite-an-adult 18yo's off to University, knowing they're not fully formed yet but having to accept that this is the best child I could raise with the time, knowledge and resources that I had.
I can't think of a single thing I've ever created that I couldn't identify half a dozen things I would do differently if I had my time again. Having said that, there are a lot of things that I'm super proud of. After a while I don't see the imperfections. If I do see them they become endearing over time. They become the marks that make a project unique.
Here are 5 personal revelations that have helped me accept my tendency toward perfectionism.
1. Perfection is Subjective
You've probably heard it said: "beauty is in the eye of the beholder." Perfection seems to embrace a similar mantra. Perfection is about perception. It's about perspective. My perspective is different to your perspective. Whether I'm creating or consuming, I'm viewing everything through an invisible grid of taste, experience and preference.
Suffice to say that subjectivity plays a big part in this idea of perfection because perfection is measured against a standard, and in this world of relativity, everyone's standards are different. If I want all things to be done to my own standard, and perfection is the bar I'm trying to reach, then very rarely if ever, will I allow someone else to have a go. As it turns out, perfection is a type of kryptonite to empowerment.
I've discovered it can also be very hard to work for a perfectionist (shout out to all my past co-workers – I'm sorry!) because you're destined to fall short the minute you agree to take something on. Perfectionism is exhausting because you have to do everything yourself. And there's only one of you.
So what's my takeaway? Understanding that perfection is subjective helps you realise there's more than one way to achieve an outcome. More than one way to deliver a final product. More than one way to dress an idea. More than one brush technique, colour treatment or kick drum sound. So go easy on yourself – and everyone who works for you.
2. Your 'Perfect' is Someone Else's 'Meh'
You've poured blood, sweat, tears and time into a project, only to deliver to a client who is 'less-than-whelmed' at the finished product. "What do you mean you don't like it??! This is brilliant! My best work!?"
There's nothing more disheartening to a creative than to hear a client say "It's just not grabbing me… Maybe, try purple?"
NO! Purple will not make it better!
In your head you launch into some diatribe about how people don't get good design when they see it, that they clearly are incapable of understanding metaphor, juxtaposition or hyperbole. There's a reason I placed the birds 252px from the left border. If you move it to the right it upsets the entire composition.
What you think is perfect someone else will hate. It's just the way it is. Cheer up Charlie!
3. Casting Pearls Before Swine
I was talking to a friend once who wrote poetry. She said she had hundreds of poems she'd written over her lifetime. She took them to a publisher who told her they weren't that great and would probably never be published. From that point on she never wrote poetry again.
She took something of great value to her and threw it to a pig who trampled it in the mud.
My question to you is - why are you creating? If you are creating for public consumption, then you have to be able to take the criticism on board. Grow some thicker skin. Take the feedback head-on. Learn from it. Adjust. Try again. Criticism shouldn't stop you creating. But if you are creating for the pure joy of creating, then criticism is irrelevant. It's not for them – it's for you. And for every individual who thinks your creations suck, there will be others who find them intriguing, compelling or inspiring.
4. Perfection Can Be Blinding
We can be so blinkered by how we think things should be done, that we don't allow any margin to accept that they could be done better. Sometimes different is just different. Sometimes, different is better. Don't be so blinded to your own perspective that you can't accept that someone else's perspective might work too. This is especially important when it comes to delegation.
Someone once said that in the workplace we don't have a problem delegating tasks, but we have a massive problem delegating trust. When we delegate trust, we have to let go of "the way things must be done." Perfection can blind us to better ways of doing things. Take off your blinkers.
5. Don't be So Hard on Perfectionists
I'm really proud of a lot of things I've created over the years. I labour way too long on things that others would have decided long ago to say, "GETMO!" When I've completed a video render at 1am and found a typo, or I've forgotten to apply a colour grade to one single shot and it just looks clunky - I'll be the guy that makes the change and sits up for another 90 mins waiting for it to render again. 99.9% of viewers will never notice the edit. However they will notice the 'vibe' as a whole.
That's what's beautiful about a pursuit of perfection. I'll never get there, but that's ok. If you shoot for the stars and only get to the moon – you've still made it a lot further than those who aimed for neither.
It's the 1%'ers that make the difference between something good and something truly excellent. In my estimations, that's just about perfect.
This article was originally published on Medium.