This One Question Deals With Perfectionism Perfectly « PekoeBlaze

Well, I thought that I’d talk briefly about perfectionism today, and one of many ways to deal with it. Although perfectionism might sound like a good thing, it really isn’t! It is an impossible, unreachable standard which constantly makes you feel “not good enough”, makes you feel like a failure. Which is why people like advertisers, political groups, organised religions etc… absolutely love to use it against everyone. People who feel bad and guilty about themselves are easier to manipulate.

And, if you’re a creative person, then perfectionism is even worse. Because it will absolutely ruin any inspiration or motivation you might feel. Because you’ll stare at the blank page or blank canvas or whatever and keep throwing away really good ideas because they don’t line up with the impossible “masterpiece” that you want to create in order to “impress other people” or “leave a legacy” or whatever. Not only that, even if you somehow actually manage to start creating something, you’ll probably think that it is a lot worse than it is because it doesn’t match up to the impossibly perfect image in your mind.

There are many, many ways to deal with the pernicious evil of perfectionism. These include everything from just pushing yourself to create something and not caring how good it is, to avoiding perfectionist media, to reminding yourself that failure and mistakes are part of learning anything etc… but, today, I want to talk about just one method. A question which suddenly appeared in my mind back in late April, when I noticed that I was criticising myself in my thoughts.

“But who sets the definition of perfect?”

Or, in simpler terms. “Who decides what’s perfect?”

It might not work in every situation, but this question is ridiculously useful for two reasons. Why? First of all, it gets you to think about where your ideas about what is “perfect” actually come from. There’s a very good chance that they don’t actually come from you. They are probably from social media, from the press, from celebrities, from old books, from adverts, from totally different people to you etc… And actually being able to notice this can be an absolute game-changer!

When you realise that you’re holding yourself to someone else’s standards, someone else’s idea of what is “perfect”, you’ll start to question this. And this brings me on to the second reason.

If you’re smart about this, then you’ll not only start thinking about your own – realistic – definition of “perfect” but – much better than that – you’ll start noticing the perfection that is already there. Whether it is how your “simple” art style lets you make art more quickly. Whether it is how you create stuff in your favourite genres. Whether it is how you’re actually learning a skill you’ve always wanted to learn, even if you aren’t an expert yet.

Whether it is how you haven’t made one mistake or another. Whether it is how you are having fun whilst creating something. The list is pretty much endless and very much specific to you. But spotting the things which are already perfect and actually looking at the whole topic of “perfection” from your own perspective – rather than ones other people have taught you – is an absolute game-changer! Not only will you come up with more achievable standards for yourself but you’ll feel the confidence of “Well, some things are already perfect” as well. It’s amazing. And it all starts by asking yourself one question.

“But who sets the definition of perfect?”

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Anyway, I hope that this was interesting 🙂