Breaking Free from Perfection
Recognizing the Signs and the Cost of Chasing Flawlessness
Last week, I taught a workshop on nurturing your creative spirit and asked the group what stops them from using their creative gifts. Several people mentioned their need to be perfect stops them from starting anything creative. Whether it is writing a book, painting, drawing, or any outlet for creative expression, some people want to have it perfect before they start. The need to be perfect traps people in a cycle of frustration, inaction, struggle, and despair.
"Waiting for perfect is never as smart as making progress.” — Seth Godin.
I can relate to this. One of the most significant signs of the need for perfection in your creative life is avoiding what your heart has been nudging you to do. I didn’t write for years, even though my spirit was nudging me. I experienced concern and frustration, avoided those nudges, feared outcomes, and stayed busy with life. Over the last eight years, I have taken classes, joined writing groups, attended conferences, and taken art classes to help unlock the ideas I held so close. I knew I had to move forward, but I never realized how much the belief that I needed to be perfect held me back.
After this workshop, I got curious about perfection and looked up the signs of perfectionism. Before I go further, please repeat this to yourself:
“I am a creative spirit. In this moment, I am free from all expectations from myself and others. I am free to create what I want. Even if imperfect, I have taken a step to honor my creative essence and become more of myself.”
Here are some behaviors that might indicate you want to be perfect. I don’t want to call anyone a perfectionist. Some of us have tendencies and behaviors that drive a need for perfection in our actions. Even if you experience one or two of these, it’s worth diving into them to liberate more of your creative flow.
Fear of failure. This may result in you hiding your work or keeping it to yourself.
Procrastination. You’ve stepped forward toward what you want but let something else get in the way, halting progress or setting it aside, claiming something else is more important.
Over-preparing and overthinking. This behavior stalls decision-making and limits your creative possibilities by never starting.
Anxiety. Coming up with bad scenarios and outcomes related to what happens if you follow your creative dreams causes anxiety and can block progress.
Being hard on yourself. Even though you haven’t tried the thing you want to do, you make up that you won’t be any good, no one will like what you’ve done, or you do it and are highly critical of your work.
Always hoping to exceed expectations. You may fear something dreadful will happen if you don’t meet expectations.
The Cost of Chasing Flawlessness
Without addressing these behaviors, you can suffer physical, emotional, and mental challenges, such as:
Headaches and fatigue
Redoing your work over and over
Never finishing a project
Low ability to trust yourself and others, and
Depression - creative people seem to be more susceptible to this
Chronic stress, burnout, and low self-esteem.
Any of the above can impact what you can do with your career and how you relate to your family and friends.
When I think of all the years I distracted myself from my creative vision, I picture all the things I could have done. There I go again; that’s a sign of desiring perfect output. (Deep sigh.)
Embrace your creative spiri.t
When you embrace your need to express yourself creatively, your life changes for the better. You feel more peace, joy, and satisfaction—emotions that would benefit all of us, especially those of you who acutely feel the madness in the world.
For my next post, I'll discuss embracing imperfection and some tips for moving forward, one step at a time. The first step is to reflect on where you are in your creative journey and notice whether you have some of the behaviors of a perfectionist.
1-1 Sessions
I have helped people overcome perfection, embrace their abilities, and move into creative expression. If you are interested in working with someone to unlock your creative spirit, here is a link to my calendar.
Upcoming In-Person Group Sessions in McKinney, TX
December 8, 2024: Your 2025 Creative Vision Workshop
February 2, 2025, Loving and Accepting Where You Are In Your Creative Journey
Thank you for being part of our community. I appreciate your comments and insights.
I can relate to this! For me, right behind perfectionism is taking on way too much as thiugh my value is in doing. I think both stem from fear. Thank you for this thoughtful post.
I really enjoyed this read. Chasing perfection is like chasing your own tail. You might catch it once or twice, but more likely you’ll end up dizzy, fatigued, and disappointed from trying and failing. I’m unlearning perfectionism and have started to embrace creating just for the fun of it. These days I lean into more how I feel when creating and place less emphasis on a “desirable outcome.”