Perfectionism Cripples Creativity
Well, I finally finished my first newsletter since we transitioned to our new system in early April. Please excuse this shamefully long absence. I can’t tell you how many late evenings and early mornings I’ve spent starting and stopping, staring at my uninspired design aesthetic, frustrated by my insufficient creativity.
As a self-taught graphic designer, I spend way more time than I'd like to admit perfecting the look, adjusting images right, left then right again; pairing fonts; more spaces between letters, less between lines... I waste time (I don't have) absorbed in the minutia that isn't central to the heart of the message.
While these pain-staking formatting dilemmas may not be universal, we all have areas in life where we strive for perfection, where we ache to get it exactly so.
The truth is perfectionism cripples creativity, and in this case, my ability to connect.
Years ago, a dear friend taught her very first yoga class, a rite of passage and graduation requirement of our 200hr Teacher Training program. A writer off the mat, her message concerned the necessity of a shitty first draft. That message has stuck with me nearly a decade later.
While those words may be particularly harsh, we can all relate to this experience.
Life often asks us to show up before we're ready, unrefined, unfinished. Starting something new (or again) takes bravery. Offering something for public consumption is a vulnerable place to exist. If perfectionism is our aim, we'll quit before we begin.
I watched this in real-time last week when we graduated our Spring 2025 Teacher Training cohort (!!) One prominent piece of advice that's woven its way through the 12 year tenure of this training is that perfectionism creates separation between teacher and student. Mistakes remind our students that we too are human. When we strive for perfection in our teaching, we subconsciously instill in our students their desire to achieve perfection as well.
So here I am sending an imperfect newsletter in hopes to inspire you to get out of your own way and create your very own shitty first draft.
That's not to say I won't dive back into the creative process and try again. But this is a commitment to reduce barriers that keep me from reaching out, because connection is at the heart of what I seek.