Sunday, December 30, 2012

2012 - a year of transition

This year, I moved. Then I moved again. Then I moved AGAIN!

I won't bore you with the nitty-gritty details but suffice to say that each time I moved, I got closer to what I really wanted. It was probably more expensive than just moving to the perfect place all in one shot, and definitely more work, but it also taught me a powerful lesson about "perfection" and its dangerous friend, perfectionism.

Often when I want to do something perfectly the first time, what ends up happening is I procrastinate, think, plan, obsess, question... and years later, nothing has changed. No forward movement.

Nowadays I'm seeing that the best thing for me to do is take a step. Take an action. Let it be messy. Let it be imperfect. Learn from it. Share it. Once it's out there, I can modify it, improve it, polish it. But until it exists in reality, it's just an idea in my head. And that is not the way to make creative projects move forward.

The moving situation exactly paralleled what was going on in my creative life. As I broke out of each successive safe but uninspired living situation, I also started to express myself, to take risks in my writing and my music. And now I'm halfway through a major personal project! (I'll share more specifics soon, I promise.)

So my advice? Begin. Let it be a mess. Let it be wrong and not as good as you imagined and not as shiny as it appeared in your head. Then polish it, sit with it, turn it around in your hand. Eventually it will become what you imagined and more. And you'll feel amazing.

4 comments:

  1. Yup I definitely need to do this in the creative department! Stop worrying about making it perfect the first time because 1) it inevitably won't be 2) sharing it will allow it to grow into something awesome and 3) attempting perfection yields no progress! Thanks for the spur into 2013! :)

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  2. Thanks so much for this piece of advice! Take a step - such an easy concept and often postponed and studied until the step seems out of reach or forgotten. I needed this reminder and feel good about the prospect of making this my reality in 2013. Wishing you an awesome 2013 taking many steps towards where you want to be and further. Blessings, joy and peace! Andrea

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  3. Hmm it looks like your site ate my first comment (it was
    extremely long) so I guess I'll just sum it up what I had written and say, I'm thoroughly enjoying your blog.
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  4. My advice is - just write! Don't worry too much about whether it is great at first. Just keep writing. And when you have something you're proud of, share the link with your friends. :)

    ReplyDelete

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