Make it perfect.

It’s funny.  I’ve always had this perfectionism that totally fights against productivity.

When I was a kid, it was not exactly uncommon for my mom to tell me to go clean my room and find me hours later with baseball cards (*baseball cards are a cultural icon, so don’t tell me I’m old.  Everyone should know about the important role that these little babies played in inspiring younger generations #educateyourself) all over the floor and no progress on the actual cleaning of my room. I thought it should be clear that if my room was to be truly “clean” that the baseball cards that were out would need to be put away in an organized fashion and you can’t get put them away in an organized fashion if all of the other baseball cards aren’t arranged.

still today, things like recording albums, writing songs, playing shows, teaching…and maybe even still cleaning my room are impacted by that mindset.  If I can’t make it perfect, I’ll just put it off. What I’ve known for a long time, however is that we often get a lot further by going for excellence.  Perfection is a myth after all, and while order and cleanliness and whatever can help, the mess is much less a problem than aiming at perfection.

Do you ever struggle with this stuff? Give yourself permission today to embrace the imperfection around and within you.  Just go.  Make some beautiful messes.

CT

*disclaimer: I am a conflicted individual, so I sometimes need to present a different perspective…taking the deep dive into artistic creation, focusing on minute detail to try to create something really magical is still something I value. It’s just less helpful in the kind of daily creating, interaction, and organization that I do.