Is done better than perfect?

Following on from my article last week, where I briefly talked about the term ‘done is better than perfect’, I wanted to expand on that this week.

When creating an idea in our head to present to the world, we want to present it in the most perfect way possible. However, striving for perfection often leads to projects not ever being finished and also leads to a lot of creative block. Trust me I’ve been there. Striving for done rather than perfect doesn’t mean constantly putting out mediocre work, it’s understanding when you are at the point where your idea is fleshed out and complete and when making tiny tweaks and edits won’t change the overall creation.

Posting consistently

One of the reasons I enjoy monthly challenges like Inktober and my recent AprilCreateDaily is because you’re creating something daily to post online; it's rarely ever perfect. Not often can you create something in one day, in usually less than an hour, that you will sit back and say yes that’s 100% perfect. These daily challenges inspire me to be creative and ditch perfection. Plus, my audience don’t notice the difference, or if they do they don’t care enough to complain about it. That’s a win win. 

If you’re spending ages on a single piece trying to get from that 90% perfect to the 100% perfect stage, that’s just wasted time. Nothing is ever perfect and frankly others will look at the 90% perfect piece of work and see it at 100%. You’re the only one who knows what you intended to create, you’re the only one judging your work so harshly. Your audience are too busy criticising their own work to notice. Plus, to be honest with you some of the imperfections in your work is what adds the character, the charm, the reason people follow you. 

Think about it — In order to get to that 90% perfect stage and to be willing to post it online for the world to see you have to at least be slightly happy with the piece of work. Right?

What’s your favourite TV show? 

Odds are your favourite TV show has made a mistake or two. Ever noticed a drink of water magically get refilled between shots? Or the main character gets hit in the head, but his bleeding wound magically moves across his forehead whenever the camera pans back to him? They make mistakes, and we find them funny, but it doesn’t stop the show being our favourite TV show. 

So what... you accidentally missed a shadow here, or heaven forbid you misspelled a word? People won’t stop liking your work, they may have a chuckle but they won’t unfollow you. Trust me, if they do you didn’t want them there in the first place. Mistakes make you look human, people want to follow and support other humans, not robot art making machines. 

Note this is all coming from an outed perfectionist. I’m working on my perfectionism as much as any of you, and I’m getting better but trust me I know it’s hard. Without mistakes how are we going to improve? As long as you’re not using ‘done is better than perfect’ as an excuse to do poor quality work, take advantage of the 90% perfect. 

- Sophie

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