Apparently it was Voltaire in the late 1700’s who said “perfect is the enemy of good.”
I experience this often in my writing and can sometimes find it debilitating when I need to produce “book-worthy” writing. I remember once feeling completely stuck while working on a writing project. I decided to sign up for a writing workshop where we just wrote for 12 minutes at a time, responding to a variety of prompts. I remember some of my favorite writing prompts:
– what surprises me about my life right now….
– my father’s desk…
– that night in the hotel….
Writing in this way, without judging and criticizing, was freeing. It allowed me to express myself with more openness and vulnerability, and to produce much more satisfying results.
There is a story about a ceramics teacher who announced during the first class that half of the class would be graded for the semester based on quality – they only needed to produce one great piece. The other half of the class would be graded solely on quantity and fifty pounds of pots would result in an A.
At the end of the semester the works of the highest quality were all produced by the quantity group. They had tried things and learned from their mistakes whereas the quality group had been stymied by their quest for perfection.
I’ve discovered that this is the only way I can learn – to try things, to make mistakes, to at times look completely foolish, to learn and grow.
Of course, we all want success. We yearn for perfection. It’s not about lowering our standards or accepting sloppiness.
Aim high, and explore, experiment, try stuff. See what happens.
P.S. If writing is your thing, then try these writing prompts to help overcome the dreaded “blank page.”
Enjoy Reading This Post?
If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing it with others via: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or email.
For more posts like this, you can subscribe to my newsletter. It’s free, I will never share your email address, and you can unsubscribe anytime.