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Writer's pictureLacy Starling

#3: Letting Perfect be the Enemy of Good

One of the worst things about perfectionism is that it paralyzes you. A perfectionist is afraid to reveal/publish/create anything that isn't absolutely "perfect" so they often produce nothing at all. Present company very much included. For a long time, I haven't been writing because I thought that everything I published needed to be super extra fabulous perfect, or I'd be betraying my talent or letting down my audience. (Which is hilarious - if you don't publish regularly, you don't have an audience to let down.) I refused to hit "publish" on anything that I felt was short of Shakespeare. So I refused to hit publish A LOT. I was, as I always say, letting perfect be the enemy of good.


This blogging challenge is not, therefore, just an exercise in writing a lot. It is also an exercise in letting go. I have to release the idea that what I'm putting out in the world has to be perfect, or fully formed, or beautiful, or even very good at all. Some of it will be, I'm sure. But most of it will be banal, or mundane, or average. Some of it will be unreadable. In the aggregate, though, it will be good enough. I'm a strong enough writer with a strong enough voice to carry through *most* of the time.


The challenge will simply be to hit "publish" without judgement and to understand that tomorrow is another day, and another attempt to write something great. Along the way, I'll get better, my writing muscles will get stronger, and if I stick with it and give myself grace, the really good stuff will come more often.

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