How To Overcome Perfectionism in Your Creative Life

Perfectionism is one of the biggest creativity killers there is.  Constantly striving for perfection in your creative life is a guaranteed route to frustration, and means you'll never enjoy creating anywhere near as much as you could be.

Here are the 5 key elements to overcoming perfectionism and living a happier, more creative life:

1. Stop comparing yourself to others. We are each unique in our creative talents, abilities and personalities. When you compare yourself to others and wish you were as creative/talented/successful as them, you completely overlook your own creative strengths and abilities. The irony is that there are plenty of other people who, when they saw your work, would wish that THEY were as creative/talented/successful as YOU. It’s great to be inspired by other artists, but use that motivation to fuel your own great work.
2. Set realistic expectations. A shortcut to artistic misery is setting completely unrealistic expectations for your work. For example, expecting the first track you compose to be up there with Beethoven, or expecting your first novel to be done in a weekend and be flawless after one draft. It’s good to have ambitions and aims for your creative work, and to push yourself to create the best you can. But be realistic, or you’ll sabotage your best work before it’s even begun!
3. Accept that art is never finished. Any piece of art, whether it’s a story, a painting, a song or anything else, can (in theory) continually be tweaked and edited indefinitely. In that sense, no art is ever completely “finished.” Once you’ve realized that, you can concentrate on getting your own art to an interesting point where it can rest and be revealed to the world. You can then be proud of what you’ve created and move on to your next work.
4. Enjoy the creative process. With perfectionism, your eyes are always on the end “product” and how complete and flawless it is. It’s okay to strive to create the best you’re capable of, but when your eyes are always on the horizon, you completely overlook what’s right under your nose. To loosen perfectionism’s grip in this area, spend time on some small, fun projects where you focus entirely on enjoying and experimenting, and detach yourself completely from any end product. The more you do this, the less perfectionism will stunt your creativity and your enjoyment of creating.
5. Acknowledge your achievements. In the endless quest for perfectionism, you completely lose track of all that you create, and all the progress you make with your own artwork. To combat this, keep a chart for your creative milestones, and each time you achieve something like a story you’re proud of, or starting a creative project in a new medium, or putting some of your art into the world, jot it down on your chart. Each month, review how much you’ve created and achieved. You’ll be surprised how much you’d been overlooking, blinded by those perfectionist ways.

Start loosening the grip perfectionism has over your creative life today by picking one of these tips above and taking action.