Creativity Loathes Perfection

366 Days of Creativity Week 27 in Review: July 1st - 7th

It was only a matter of time before I wrote about perfectionism.

How often do you want to have everything figured out before you start?

Be prepared for exactly what is to come?

I still remember the day my counselor told me, "You can't pre-plan life."

But I still want to. 

I want to know that how I chose to spend my time and talents and energy and money is the best possible use. 

I want to know that everything I put in will be worth it in the long run.

I want to make the best decision, always.

If we stay in perfection land, we never start.

You learn as you go.

You learn as you go.

You learn as you go.

​It truly is what we do day in and day out.

​Yes, sometimes I spend hours on my creation (see my Day 187 Spaceship below).

Sometimes I literally spend minutes because I know I have a full day and have to squeeze it in (see my Day 189 below).

​Sometimes I take the time to really try and take a good photograph using the manual setting on my DSLR.

Sometimes I leave it just where it is and take a photo with my phone and call it a day.

If I expected perfection from myself everyday, I either wouldn't have a life outside of LEGO® or I wouldn't do it at all.

​Right now I'm at a conference all about LEGO®.

Hello BrickFiesta!

Never in a million years could I have planned that. Seriously. I'm still a bit anxious.

But because I said yes to building every day this year, and because I said yes to sharing it with others, and because others thought of me and told me about LEGO® related things, and because I said yes to going to one of those LEGO® related things (see my pictures from BrickFest earlier this year), and because someone there told me about this conference, and again because I said yes, here I am.

​And I'm learning. 

I just went to a talk about how to photograph my creations. And thank goodness I took that photo class earlier this year because otherwise it would have been over my head. 

And my perfection demon said, you need a tripod and a lightbox and all the photos you have taken before now are crap, and you need to be using your nice camera all the time, and you need to be an expert on this by tomorrow.

ARGH!!!! If I let those thoughts rule this 366 project would end tomorrow.

Learning and growth happens slowly, over time.

You don't acquire all the skills in one day, or even one year.

But the important thing is you keep at it.

You say yes to one thing at a time.
You open yourself up to new experiences.

I have no idea where all of this will lead (okay, I have a couple of ideas in the works but besides those I have no idea).

I started this journey perfectly imperfect.
But thank goodness I started.

And it's okay that it looks messy and imperfect.
Because I'm on the path.
I'm going places.
Places I never expected.
I'm learning things.
Things I might never have learned.
I'm doing it my way and trying to implement what I learn when and how I can.

You just have to start.
Get in there.
See what happens.

It's so fun creating, whatever it is you like to create. 
And we get so much out of it, I think a lot of the time more than we even know.

So whatever it is you have in your dreamworld, begin.
Take that first step.
You don't have to have step 86 figured out already.
Trust in step one.
Say yes to help and new experiences. 
Say no to perfectionism, it only holds you back.

Build the life you want, one step, one brick, at a time.
You have time.
You have all the pieces you need to start.
You will discover new pieces, but only when you start with what you have.
Start imperfectly, be open, and who knows where you may end up! 

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Days 183 - 189

Day 183:
"Striving for excellence motivates you; striving for perfection is demoralizing."
​-Harriet Braiker

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Day 184:
"There's no creativity without boundaries."
​-Lorne Michaels

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Day 185:
"Life begins where your comfort zone ends."
​-Koosje Koene

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Day 186:
"You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves."
​-Mary Oliver

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Day 187:
"I find that getting started on a project or a new art series can be the hardest part: I can think of a million tasks to distract myself. My advice is to just jump in and begin. Allow yourself to experiment, make mistakes, and be playful. If it's not working, put it aside, paint over it, or start something new."
​ -Danielle Hession

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Day 188:
"It's my inability to be like my hero that allows me to be myself."
​-John Mayer

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Day 189:
"I found I could say things with colors that I couldn't say in any other way - things that I had no words for."
​-Georgia O'Keeffe