Perfectionism, the Enemy of Good {writing}

At first, when I read "perfectionism is the enemy of good"; I thought, "well of course it is, it's the best, it's better than good."  Then I thought, "wait, no.  That wouldn't make it an enemy".  Then before my brain could go further down that path of rankings, I realized that that's not even remotely what the adage means and I needed to shift my perspective.

So here's what it actually means from this other perspective, where things became oh so much clearer.  It's also where Voltaire, Confucius, and Aristotle were coming from.  Plus lots of successful business, leadership, and wholehearted folks know this to be true too.  And I can see it; it's just not my first thought.  Which actually says a whole heaping lot about me.

While we strive for the unobtainable goal of perfectionism, wasting time and energy, we are not being productive because the book doesn't get written {let alone published} as we agonize over the perfect paragraph, sentence word.

The generalization is that we are disengaged from ourselves, from the vulnerability of putting ourselves out there where we might be criticized, where our work might be judged, where our collective asses might be kicked.  So we think, "I'm gonna be so perfect that no one can find fault with me" or "my work is going to be so good that it stands above reproach" or some other such fallacy because someone somewhere is gonna find fault and someone somewhere has produced work that is better than yours in some way.  So then that just reinforces most of our beliefs that we were right to slap on some armor, grab a shield, and further disengage from others and ourselves.

But you can't be satisfied, because there is no perfection from an external validation.  You cannot please everyone all the time.  You can strive to be the best you, the perfect you, the most authentic you, tho.

To do that, you need to show up as you and be seen as you.  Faults, flaws, and all.  That requires vulnerability, that requires a huge amount of bravery and courage, because you allowing others to see you, to perhaps judge you, to perhaps critic you, to perhaps find fault {and they will, if they look for it}.  Be brave, do it anyway.

Because chances are:

You are worth being seen, as you are, with your opinions, thoughts, feelings, and the awesome talents and gifts that you have.  You do produce good work, you do create appealing art, and you are a good person, good friend, and so forth.

Specifically, when it comes to writing, perfection can be a huge stumbling block.  It can cause self doubt, it can block creativity, it can leave your page as blank as when it was created.  So write anyway, create anyway, play anyway, practice anyway...you'll produce better and better work.  You'll be more productive, less frustrated, and more accepting.  You'll be good.