I talk about art, design, and creativity
What they don’t know is that the 1% of great artists, writers, creatives, musicians (you name it) strive for progress, not perfection.
The difference is that the latter won’t feel like giving up after they’ve failed a couple of times.
Instead, they’ll keep going.
It just works.
Whether you’re learning how to swim,
Taking dance classes,
Or trying to make better content for your business.
Progress over perfection is the key to learning the best way forward for you.
Why?
Because progress leaves you accountable to your goals. Progress is kind. Progress knows what it takes to get up the hill.
But perfection on the other hand…
Perfection only lets you do things once. Perfection doesn’t care about you. Perfection doesn’t want to see you grow and succeed.
Progress over perfection.
It was a cool, gloomy night.
I remember sitting at my desk wondering what I was going to write.
All the good ideas were already taken. Everything said had already been said. What do I have to contribute to the general conversation about creativity?
Would it just be better to not share anything at all?
Everyone should already know about the basics of practicing creativity anyway (or so I thought).
Then it dawned on me.
If I keep writing for the sake of being original, I’ll never get anything down on the page. It’ll just be a dead end.
However if I write with the goal of being helpful to someone else, I now have things to share.
Moral of the story?
Don’t count on being original.
Instead, be helpful.
There’s no room for perfectionism in the world of social media marketing.
Absolutely none.
Zero.
Get the idea of perfecting out of your head.
Here’s the truth.
You either make content or you don’t.
You either press the share button or you don’t.
You either engage with other people’s content or you don’t.
Most importantly, you either learn from the process of doing all the above, or you don’t.
That’s how I learned (and am still learning) the art of social media content marketing.
So when you see a piece of content from me, I’m experimenting and learning so that I can do better on the next one.
You either make content or you don’t.
You either press the share button or you don’t.
You either engage with other people’s content or you don’t.
Most importantly, you either learn from the process of doing all the above, or you don’t.
That’s how I learned (and am still learning) the art of social media content marketing.
So when you see a piece of content from me, I’m experimenting and learning so that I can do better on the next one.
Have you ever heard of an all-star basketball player who never practiced a day in her life?
Or a successful graphic designer who never spent endless hours hunched over her laptop producing a dozen designs a day?
How about a fiction-writer who never sent her book to a publisher because she thought it wasn’t good enough?
The truth is, the amount of practice you put into your craft determines success regardless of how pixel-pushed-till-perfect your art might be.
Don’t stop for perfection.
Perfectionism. I lost it. The desire for my projects to be perfect disappeared forever.
How did it happen?
Two years ago, something clicked.
I realized something.
Why am I trying so hard for things to be pixel perfect? Why am I spending 30 minutes to find the perfect shade of green? And when it’s all done, why do I feel like I shouldn’t share what I finished?
Who’s really caring?
Nobody.
And ever since then, I’ve been writing something unperfect every day of the week.
Not literal 💩
Just metaphorical 💩
💩 Posts entail:
A fast way to learn how to make better content is to make 💩 content.
Be a student of your own content.
Learn from your 💩 posts, and improve later.
Get out of your rut.
Look for inspiration elsewhere.
Go for a walk.
Cut out your phone.
Sure these things can help, but for how much longer are you going to look at inspo for?
How many walks do I really want to take? (Sorry mom).
And my phone. The very tool I need to use on a constant basis. Isn’t there a way to do great creative work while being self-disciplined enough to cut out distraction enough of the time?
My personal solution to get out of creative ruts is to make unperfect work.
(Yes, I know the opposite of perfect is spelled ‘imperfect’ but perfect spelling is besides the point. Unperfect is just that. Unperfect. Let that little red squiggly spellcheck indicator do it’s thing)
Unperfect yourself and stop falling for the promise of “if it’s not perfect, it won’t be any good.”
Get out of your rut.
In 2017, I wanted to be an illustrator. I was drawing a lot in my sketchbook, and I was hearing a lot of people around me say they wanted to share more of their work on social media. The thought of posting my work on Instagram was always on my mind, however I couldn’t bring myself to do it because I was worried my work wasn’t good enough.
Now let’s stop right there and break things down. There are a few simple questions to ask yourself when you’re having this seemingly mundane conversation in your head.
If you’re stuck saying, “I’m worried my work isn’t good enough”—who exactly is saying that? Who exactly put that question into your mind? Good enough for who?
If you’re someone who gets stuck at “my work isn’t good enough” and you want to change that, I hope you keep on reading.
Let’s circle back to the 3 questions. Who exactly says your work isn’t good enough? Who is putting a line of insecurity through your head? Who are you trying to be good enough for? Who comes to mind?
For a long time, the “person” who was giving me feelings of insecurity and doubt was a mix of my mom who always made a push for more, and some random uncle who made fun of my drawings one time when I was maybe 8.
My mom was constantly telling me that my work could be better. That random uncle made me feel like my drawings were dumb.
It took me 2 years later to sit down and answer these simple questions. I’ve made a mental switch since then.
Again, who has told you in the past that your work isn’t good enough? Who puts the feeling of inadequacy through your mind? Who are you trying to be “good enough” for?
If you’ve been telling yourself that your work isn’t good enough every time you’re about to hit that “Share” button on Instagram, Behance, your blog, or any other public space, I hope this helps.
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