I sometimes fight with perfectionism, the idea that “good enough” is not, in fact, good enough.
Mostly, as I progressed through my thirties, I tamed this beast. Confidence and life experience taught me to shrug my shoulders in its face.
But then came my first full manuscript. It had a deadline, a generous deadline, but it needed a lot of work. How could I possibly get my manuscript from where it was (random, unconnected thoughts) to where it needed to go (a connected whole)?
Perfectionism’s bed partner, procrastination, soon joined the party.
The summer schedule I’d set up lay untouched.
Soon, my final week of summer holidays came. On the Monday morning of that final week, I sat down at a nearby college library, pulled out my moleskine, and scribbled this note for myself:
Then I got to work, making it better, not perfect.
Any stories of perfectionism to share?
What is the beast you must slay before you get things done?
Leanne Shirtliffe (Ironic Mom)
Elena Aitken
Trish Loye Elliott
Thanks Leanne. You are an inspiration.
This is so true! Perfect is always just out of reach. Better is achievable. Great post, thanks for this
If you try hard enough you probably could make it the perfect first book. But then your second book would be such a let down.
Ha. Well thank goodness I don’t have to worry about that!
I once procrastinated on a long writing project. I cared about it, and wanted it to be perfect, which meant I diddled around for 3 months until my deadline was close enough to bite me in the back. After listening to me whine and freak out for one long night, my husband made me a giant banner, which he hung over my writing desk. It read, “Crap, and done.” It meant write crap and be done, or give yourself permission to write what you think is crappy, get it done, and we’ll fix it later. It meant just get some damn words on the page. I wrote for 3 days straight. When I go back and read the crap I got done, I am always surprised it wasn’t crap writing–it’s actually pretty darn good. It was such a good lesson in how perfectionism paralyzes, how self-critique can easily turn into self-cannibalism. I wish I could say that I never made the same mistake again, but I can’t. I continue to struggle with it.
Oh, well said, R… “How self-critique can easily turn into self-cannibalism.” Yes.