What's Better Than Perfect?
Maybe you've heard before that perfectionism is a form of fear. So... what should we be aiming for instead?
Dear Creators,
“Done is better than perfect.”
This was a message I absolutely did NOT want to hear when I first heard it. The way I saw it, if my creative work was going to succeed — if it was going to represent me out in the wild, — it had to be perfect.
(Maybe you’ve had this thought before, too.)
I didn’t want to publish something that was merely done — done wasn’t good enough. Simply done wasn’t up to my standards.
Plus, everyone else out there seemed to be easily, breezily publishing perfect things. Look at all the classics, the bestsellers, the award-winners — why should I settle for done when I could create something great? A masterpiece? Something… dare I say, perfect?
But when I ran out of hours one day for a client project I was working on, my boss very gently told me, "Done is better than perfect." And in doing so, he gave me permission to release my perfectionist’s hold on the work, send it to the client, and move on to something else.
It was the most liberating thing in the world.
I (perhaps like you) have been a perfectionist my entire life. Hitting "publish" or "send" or "submit" on something that I know isn’t perfect is one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to teach myself to do. But it is absolutely critical if you want to get anything out in front of your audience.
We need to create a body of work that grows along with us.
And that means hitting “publish” or “send” or “submit” on something that isn’t perfect. It means slowly making peace with the notion that we aren’t perfect — that we are human and flawed and beautiful and good despite it all.
It means understanding that perfectionism is a form of fear — an excuse to keep us from sharing our creative work and thus appearing vulnerable, or flawed, or — dare we say it? — imperfect.
This week, I want you to ask yourself:
What does perfect mean to you?
What does done mean for you, in regard to your creative work?
What are you willing to sacrifice, truly, to move forward with your creative work?
What makes you feel happy and fulfilled as a creator?
These are questions only you can answer, because they hearken back to why you create in the first place.
(For example, if you ever want to see your name on the cover of a book, you have to finish writing the book first. But if you’re writing simply to experience the joy (and frustration) of creating, then "done" might not be a priority, or even a goal.)
I have to tell you — in today’s letter, I was initially going to talk about how "perfect" doesn’t exist, and how it’s a shining, unattainable trap that keeps us from sharing our work. But… I’m not here to judge. You are creating for your own reasons, and I respect that.
I just want you to really understand, truly and deeply, what those reasons are.
Words & warmth,
Sarah
Girl In Space Update
Uhhh. So… I did a thing that I haven’t really told anyone about (outside of a few close friends, my siblings, and Tim).
I was in the midst of writing episode 12 of Season 2 of Girl In Space when I realized that, since the season is going to comprise 13 episodes, I should probably start tying up the loose ends. There were also some loose ends that I left dangling back in Season 1 that I wanted to take care of.
I then realized that, in order to do that, I should probably go back and re-read through Season 1 of Girl In Space.
And, since I had this realization in the first week of November, a.k.a. National Novel Writing Month, I figured… if I was going to be reading Season 1, why not adapt it into a novel while I was at it? (Because this is how my brain works.)
So for the first time in my entire life, I actually won NaNoWriMo (that is to say, I reached the goal of writing 50,000 words between November 1-30). I actually hit the 50k word mark on my Girl In Space novel adaptation yesterday.
And — just as I had hoped — I got some wonderful new insights for how to satisfactorily wrap up Season 2 along the way.
So anyway… I don’t know what I’m going to do with my novel adaptation, but it exists now, and it’s really fun. I figure I’ll see if any traditional publishers want it and, if not, I’ll just self-publish.
Either way, I’m back to work on Season 2 again this week, and I’ll keep you posted with more updates as they occur!
👀 …What’s that? You’ve never listened to Girl In Space before? Well! Now is an excellent time to start:
New Write Now Podcast Episode: Endings Are Hard
Why are endings so darn hard to write? Is it just because it's difficult to wrap up all of the loose ends... or is there something more going on?
What makes for a truly satisfying ending, and how do we create one?
Quick note: I’m super behind in writing the show notes for this episode, but you can still listen out on Apple Podcasts and Spotify:
Is Twitter Going Away?
I don’t know. So many things in life are out of our control. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But fortunately (?) there are tons of other social media sites where we can connect! In addition to Twitter, here I am on:
And if all of those go away, too (BECAUSE WHO KNOWS), I’ll always be at sarahwerner.com. :) And here in your email inbox, of course — which, by the way, thank you again (and always) for subscribing.
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Cheers, and thank you!
This is exactly what I wanted to hear today. I’ve been so tired lately trying to achieve the best in everything instead of doing what is possible and achievable within a given time and calling it a day. Thank you so much for sharing.
When I wrote my first novel, I kept telling myself "You're not writing <i>War and Peace</i>. :)
Just write and keep writing. Don't worry about perfect or awesome. Just write honestly. You know how to do that. As demonstrated in all you've done. Really!