Perfectionism is the Enemy of Creativity... or IS it?

The title of this post is a popular quote and truism... which I have often taken to heart because I tend to have perfectionistic tendencies.

Personally, I don't believe striving for perfection, or — at the very least — always trying to improve and do your best is "problematic," unless it's masking some kind of unaddressed psychological issue hidden beneath the surface.

More about that, later!

Yellow rhododendrons by my neighbor's fence...

As the Situation Currently Unfolds...

At the moment, I find myself in the middle of this ostensible personal re-invention process, which involves the shutting down of one thing I have been doing for years, and ramping up something else to take its place.

In an "ideal world" — which, of course, we don't happen to have — I would actually have the time and resources to deliberately shut down our store by June 30th, and then I would deliberate organize and ramp up my editing business and my art business.

But because I don't have that luxury, the current situation is more like a puppy with large feet trying to run around the corner on a slippery floor.

What does this have to do with perfectionism and creativity?

My desire to want to do a good job with setting up my art business is being seriously challenged by time constraints. And I am learning that I have "issues" with the idea of "just throwing something together and tossing it out there and hoping for the best."

However, life isn't offering many viable choices at the moment... so I am trying to learn to live with my state of discomfort. Because, after all, "something" is much better than nothing at all because I couldn't bear to release anything short of perfect.

But why is it so hard to do?

Perfectionism vs. Psychobabble

As I mentioned up top, a tendency to try to get things "perfect" can sometimes reflect underlying and unaddressed psychological issues.

One is the fear that what you're doing isn't "good enough." But what does "good enough" actually look like, in a creative field? That can be a slippery beast.

I know that my actual work is good enough... my hurdle in this particular area is more about whether my presentation and "social media campaign" is going to be "good enough." So I am setting myself up with the ambition that I am supposed to not only produce near-perfect art, I am also expecting myself to concurrently be a near-perfect social media manager... while also being engaged full-time in the business of shutting down a business.

"Realistic" expectations? Probably not...

One popular truism about artists and creatives struggling with perfectionism is that they are actually hiding because of fear of judgment.

That one has always been an issue for me, and I have had a history of taking "more care" than necessary to make sure that whatever I am doing is always going to be near the top of its category, whatever that may be. My father used to say that you should attempt to do things so well that they would be beyond scrutiny, as a result of which you would most likely not be scrutinized.

Of course, the problem with these things are that they tend to be "inspiration killers." And it's easy to get so mired down in worry about a situation that you actually end up being too distracted to put forth your best effort.

Our eucalyptus tree is blooming...

Considering Our Own "Investments"

I suppose a lot in these situations comes down to our own "investment" in them. What's at stake? How important is it that things go well?

In my case — having worked in a lot of "company cleanup" situations — I know that one of my own "issues" is that I have seen so many mess-ups that resulted from half-assed effort that I am personally very well aware of what goes wrong when you don't pay enough attention.

Is my personal experience "right" and "accurate?"

Well, of course it is!

But it's also an incomplete picture, in the sense that cleaning up company mess-ups is not representative of the greater world... it's actually a small niche. Thus, holding myself to standard that primarily affects proven failures is not an accurate picture of how something offered to the greater world needs to be presented.

Lesson? Always take a moment to put your scenarios that might be causing you anxiety and worry in perspective!

Thanks for reading!

Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!

(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Created at 190522 16:59 PST
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