Writing, Creativity and Knowing When to Stop!

As someone who has periodically been "accused" of being too much of a perfectionist, I have learned — very slowly — that there comes a point at which continuing to "fine tune" something I'm working on is basically a losing proposition.

There's something slightly ironic about that, in the sense that I used to work as a consultant to entrepreneurs and I often dispensed the advice to "not overfinesse" whatever they were doing.

We have to learn when to stop trying to improve our work.

That's different from basic striving for excellence. It's the difference between working something till it's 99% perfect and then setting it free, and insisting that you will not let the anything you've created be seen by the world until it is 100% right.

Here's the thing: When you insist that you need to keep on polishing and revising an article or a manuscript, or you keep touching up a painting, your message is actually that you're fearful that you're not good enough.

At that point, it has stopped being about the quality of the work, and has instead become about you wrestling with old fears.

Trust me, I speak from experience!

As a young writer, I was always terrified of letting any editor near my work until I had revised it so many times it seemed obsessive, and gone over every piece of punctuation repeatedly... and my problem invariably ended up being that my excessive caution and nitpicking caused me to miss deadlines.

Good deadlines. Important deadlines. Potentially life changing deadlines.

We must learn when enough is enough! If we don't, we run the risk of getting stuck in our creative endeavors to such a degree that we'll eventually end up becoming one of those people who looks back and declares "I wish I HAD become a writer!"

Or artist.
Or musician.
Or actor.

These days I write most of my blog posts and articles from start to finish, in one sitting, without allowing myself to go back and revise anything, until I am substantially done with 95% of the content of the piece.

There was a time in my life when I was not capable of doing that!

Sometimes I will write something out fully, and simply let it sit for a couple of days, completely unread and unedited. When I come back to it — 48 hours or maybe a week later — I have fresh eyes and can edit appropriately, with the benefit of a bit of time separation between the creative process and the editing process.

Regardless, I have learned to let of my pervasive fears that there may be debilitating mistakes in my creations.

Hey! Sometimes there are! And someone finds them, and calls me on it! And you know what? I survive the process!

I should make it perfectly clear here that I'm not suggesting that you be satisfied with a sloppy half-assed job. Just suggesting that there's a point at which trying to "improve" something accomplishes absolutely nothing, and might even make things worse, rather than better!

Now you might wonder how that last bit works.

What happens is that you get to a point where you start editing out (removing, overpainting) anything that resembles uniqueness, character and personality, leaving your work beautifully correct from a technical standpoint, but otherwise lacking in any kind of intangible appeal.

Perhaps like it had been created by a machine, rather than a human being.

And therein lies the key: We humans tend to like "personality" in what we're drawn to, not just "flat" perfection.

So... don't overwork it! Know when to stop!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful Friday!

How about you? Do you fret too much over getting your creative work "just right?" Or are you more willing to set it free "as is?" Leave a comment if you feel so inclined — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — Not posted elsewhere!)

Created at 2024.03.08 01:20 PST
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