Why Finished Beats Flawless

Hey there, Creative Souls. Welcome back to the episode. Today, let's talk about perfection.

I know I'm not perfect. In fact, there are two ways we can use perfection, and I guarantee you are using one or the other. Let's find out which - because one of them can propel your creative journey forward beautifully, and the other one will hold you back. So let's take a look at which one you're using and make some adjustments if needed.

I want to share a line that I've written in one of my shows, I Haunt You. This darling. romantic character Rose that I play says, "Perfection is a thing we can talk about, but it's not really a thing we can have."

And then her handsome lover says back to her, "And yet you still want it."

I really love that moment because I think it's true. Perfection is a thing we can talk about, but it's not really a thing we can have. That's the premise under which we're going to figure out how you're using it.

The best way to use perfection to improve your creative workflow is to strive for it and know that you are never going to achieve it… and to not let that break you. This is not a failure. This is an idea of setting a bar really high for yourself, comfortably high, right? However high you'd like to set that bar. You work toward it until it’s at the point where it's time to publish this damn thing. It's time to finish, to show and share and tell. If we use perfection the other way, the ineffective way, the way that will hold you back, it will not have you getting better. The way to never reach the point where creating becomes sharing to go here's the bar that is perfection and I'm going to work toward it until I reach it.

You're not going to get there.

What this little gap between where you are and your ideal of perfection is that you won't publish. You won't share. You won't finish the project. You won't start another project because you didn't finish this one; or you will start, but never finish 15 projects and you'll never share. If you’ve read any of my posts before, then you already know that there's two really important parts to the creative process. One is deeply, internally yours. It is the you that's in the work. It is the you creating the work. It's for you. I have literal chills because the creative process is so rich and joyous and so selfishly for me. I need it. I love it. I have to do it. And so do you. That's why you're reading right now.

The second part of any creative process is the sharing. This is where the selfishness falls away like a sexy little tear-away gown and it becomes for everyone else. The work is not just yours to keep. It's yours to create with all your soul and passion, and then it's your responsibility to share it. If you won't share your work because it's not perfect, then you are not completing the creative process and you are robbing yourself (and others) of the joy and connection that comes from sharing your creative work.

We use perfection in one way and never in the other. Perfection is the bar that you hold high. You embody my beautiful character, Rose. Perfection is a thing we can talk about, but it isn't really a thing we can have. And yet, you still want it.

Go ahead and want it. Go ahead and work toward it. But know when to stop creating and call it done. Wrap it up. Put a bow on it and call it finished. Not flawless, but finished.

Then you go happily on to step two, which is sharing your work with the world. The world can be huge. It can be the internet ether and everyone on the globe because you're a world-renowned artist, or it can be your best friend. I encourage you to go a little bit farther beyond that because I think your work is more valuable than that, and you owe it to yourself and to others to share it. Step two can be scary, right? Because in step one, we put so much soul work into it that sharing feels like a revealing of self. It's a vulnerable thing to share the work. Trust me, I know. Sometimes I think it's crazy that I love the stage so much because it literally is the spotlight and it's vulnerable. I put all of myself into it. What if you judge it? What if you're mean to it? What if you think it sucks?

Who cares?

Because if there's a few of those bad apples, God bless them. They're apples. They have the right to be here. There are plenty more good apples whose hearts are going to fill up with love and joy and admiration and appreciation because you did share the work. I'm not just typing here, I've lived this experience. What I can tell you through lived experience is that the fear of sharing will go away and it instead will become anticipation and excitement for sharing.

I have written and produced enough shows now that I know the joy of seeing our audience's faces, actually shaking their hand, hugging them, seeing the tears, the smiles, all the things that our soul driven artwork created for them when we shared it. Had I been committed to achieving perfection, I would have never shared the work. I know now for certain that that is selfish. It's twofold selfish, because not only am I keeping the work to myself and denying them the opportunity to experience it, but it's not even self-serving because the connection piece that you get to experience when you share your work is just as rich for you as it is for the people who experience what you share. It is essential. It is essential that you create for you from the soul and that you share the work for others… and for yourself. Perfection will stop you dead in your tracks.

Today, the invitation is sweet and simple, but profound if you use it. Take an internal glance. Examine your relationship to perfection. You should even have an emotional trigger when I say the word. Take a deep breath. I want to be perfect. How does that resonate for you? Does it feel wrong? No, never. Does it feel like well, yeah, I do? Whatever it is, it's not a judgment. It's an observation of your relationship to it so that you can start to see if you're using perfection to your benefit: to set a bar high so that every time you do a new creative project you aim high and get better and better, or to set the bar high and not share the work because you won't achieve it. Because baby, I promise you won't.

Perfection is an idea. It's not really a thing that we can have. You know what? That's okay.

I invite you to put this process on. Please take five minutes and just close your eyes, say the word perfect or perfection and examine your relationship to it. Make a switch if it would serve you well and start changing your relationship to how you perceive flawless work. It ain't a thing, baby. It ain't a thing.

Now, you go do your creative work so that you can experience the joy of sharing it with the world.

See you in the next one!