The Paralysis of Perfection

In Creativity and Inspiration, The Craft, The Life Creative by David17 Comments

Is Perfection Paralyzing You?

After teaching photography for about a dozen years without stopping to take a break, it’s become clear to me that after a year with the camera in our hands, the primary problems for most of us as photographers are not photographic problems at all

The problem is that we think they are, and so we look for photographic solutions. New filter. New lens. Fast memory cards. Better Lightroom presets or Photoshop plug-ins. All of them might solve one problem or another, but they will not solve problems that are fundamentally creative. 

On a technical level, there are things to be done to improve our photographs; things we can do to keep them sharp or retain details in highlights. But those can be learned quickly, and for most of us, a year is sufficient to get the very basics. There are manuals for such things.

But there is no user manual for our creativity, which is a good thing—because if such a manual existed, it would reduce us and our best creative work to formulaic crap.

But that hasn’t stopped me from wishing we all understood our creative process a little more. 

Even a simple understanding of how we work creatively would take us a long way in employing even the most basic of our technical skills. It’s not that we don’t know how to use the camera, it’s that having learned those basics, we have no idea what to do with them. It is our creativity that takes us those next steps. 

One of the greatest barriers to creativity and to life is fear. That fear manifests itself in many ways but one of the more destructive is the perfectionism so many of us are paralyzed by. 

My friend James Victore is known for saying feck perfuction! I like that.

Perfectionism isn’t a good thing because the goal of “perfect” isn’t healthy. It’s toxic. It’s tyrannical. It demands more than most humans are capable of giving, paralyzing us in our efforts to create, to learn, to live more gracefully with the limits and foibles of who we are.

Forgive me for putting it this way, but it’s the bastard love child of a protestant work ethic and the fact that we celebrate the work of artistic genius but never acknowledge the process responsible for that work. We are told, if not by others then frequently by ourselves, “Unless we can create that brilliant thing, and unless we can make it perfect, don’t bother.” And we forget that any good thing is almost always a result of a long, slow refinement of something that almost always starts ugly
Perfectionism makes a god of the flawless and an outcast of the flawed, the imperfect. 

But there is a  meaning to the word “perfect” that we often forget. Sure, it can mean “flawless,” but it can also mean “done.” Completed. Signed. Shipped. Put out into the world to be loved for what it is. 

Our desire for a flawless and unblemished kind of perfection gets in the way of—and so often prevents us from—accomplishing the other kind of perfection: done. 

For me, the difference in the two ideas is this: striving for perfection of the first kind means others get to say whether it is or isn’t. Others get to weigh in on what the flaws are and how grievous they might be. People you never met get to say if you’ve accomplished what you’ve worked so hard for. They will inspect it for a lack of flaws, based on god only knows what criteria (they won’t be yours), completely neglecting the content of what you’ve made or what you’re trying to say.

Defining perfect as done means you get to say so: only you get to say it’s done. Complete. Warts and all. Rough edges. And no one gets to take that from you. 

And what’s beautiful about that perspective is that it’s incredibly empowering. It places the standard for my work into my own hands and allows me to embrace who I am, and where I am as an artist, and to aim high but according to my own vision. 

The Japanese have a concept that honours imperfection, brokenness, and decay called wabi-sabi. There’s an implicit belief that a thing gets more beautiful as it gets scarred from use and imbued with its own story. That’s my own imperfect understanding of wabi-sabi; it too is probably rough around the edges, but I find it beautiful nonetheless. 

A rejection of the obsessive pursuits of perfection and perfectionism is not an endorsement of sloppy, lazy work or a rejection of excellence of craft; perfection and excellence are not the same things.

Wabi-sabi seems to be a formal way of embracing that. A way of saying something can be done and can be excellent not only despite the flaws—but because of them. 

  • How many projects have you stalled on or given up too soon because the start was messy and contained no hints of the perfection you hoped for? 

  • How many times have you shied away from sharing your work because it wasn’t perfect and therefore wasn’t good? 

  • How many times have you questioned your process and your progress but it felt like things were getting worse before they might get better? 

I’ve come to see my own perfectionism as laziness. It’s cowardly and allows me to abdicate my responsibility to finish my work. It gives us a noble-sounding excuse for never shipping and facing all the fears associated with that. It’s an unwillingness to do the work and see where it goes and wrestle with the nuances, the doubts, and the detours that are not just difficult parts of the creative life, but necessary parts. Because it’s in wrestling with those things, with whatever skill our craft gives us, that our work becomes what it is.

Perfectionism is a childish response, itself imperfect, incomplete. It pouts in the corner when it can’t get something done “right” the first time and so it never learns the lessons of craft and character that come from wrestling the muse to the ground and making something of nothing. 

Perfectionism will stop us before we get to the good stuff, which is inevitably a little on the ugly side long before it shows signs of promise. Ironically (assuming you choose to accept the same re-definition of perfection as I did years ago), perfectionism will stop us from ever getting to perfect. To complete. Done. And until it is finished, no work of art can be evaluated by anyone—not even you.

So don’t write it off before it’s finished.

Don’t listen to the voices that tell you to stop because you’re not there yet.

Keep going. 

For the Love of the Photograph, 
David

PS – Want more like this? I send these articles out every two weeks to photographers around the world who want to improve their craft and explore their creativity and I’d love to include you. Tell me where to send it and I’ll send you a copy of my best-selling eBook Make Better Photographs, as well bi-weekly articles, first-glimpse monographs of my new work, and very occasional news of resources to help you keep moving forward in this craft we love.

“Each and every one of your emails inspire and motivate me to want to jump right out of my chair away from my computer and shoot for the love of it . Thank you David.” – Millie Brown

Comments

  1. I was only 12,,, when that dreaded,,, Unbeknownst to my being prior,,, Perfectionism,,,it completed all my unfinished mental murals,,, lIt allowed my ego to overpower my reason,,,I am weak,,, in academics,,,in sewing,,,etc,,, etc,,, but not in a spotless abode,,,Floors mopped”(on weakened bloodied knees,,, everyday,,, five large rooms)”,,,, Bathroom and disinfected and the toilet seat”(lemon oiled)”,,, All windows,,,Glass Waxed,,, once a month”(kitchen,,, Once a week)”,,,Ironed,,,starched rolled clothing,,, glass rigged washboard,,, all clothes by hand”(3 children,,, mother,,,father once removed)”,,, And once in awhile”(Renting Aunt”s,,, insignificant other”s,,, drawers)”,,,Mario,,, could not have followed the course,,,How,,, by being an unsuccessful ignoramus in this my almost life,,,of success,,,

  2. Pingback: Weekend wisdom 2 | stepping on the cracks

  3. Great post – yes, thank you! For me, photography is about showing my voice and expressing my love and admiration to people, life, and the world. That’s it! I’m an amateur 🙂

  4. I totally agree with the premise of your article!

    I once heard the quote that stuck with me: “perfect is the enemy of good.”

    Perfectionism stifles being able to effectively accomplish excellent work.

    Thanks for the post!

  5. Another way I’ve heard that is similar is “paralysis analysis”, I definitely don’t act on things with my pictures if it would be that they aren’t good enough or that people won’t like them. It’s taken a while but I’m slowly learning to not care what others think and to just make it perfect for me, not for other people. Thank you for your article!

  6. Such an excellent read! This resonates. Thank you for sharing!

  7. This was so true and so helpful. A very good reminder. I tell myself often, I’m doing the best I know how for the stage I’m in. Keep going and I’ll be in a new stage! Thank you.

  8. Don’t listen to the voices that tell you to stop because you’re not there yet.- Definitely agree! We must keep going. We must never stop. The voice inside our head that says negative things are not true. Its okay not to be perfect. Its okay to make mistakes. Because we are humans. We are imperfect. And thats okay and pretty amazing! Thanks for sharing

  9. Thank you for this.
    The line ..” it’s the bastard love child of a protestant work ethic and the fact that we celebrate the work of artistic genius but never acknowledge the process responsible for that work. We are told, if not by others then frequently by ourselves, “Unless we can create that brilliant thing, and unless we can make it perfect, don’t bother.” strikes home so hard with me.

    1. Thank you, Belinda !

      I felt exactly the same !

      David, already ordered this book !

  10. I noticed for me :

    Since I avoid to have to high expectations, selfimposed or expectations others might have,
    I have much more fun with my camera.
    I play and try new things.
    I try not to show to much of my work
    and consider my “imperfect” pictures as a stream, that might lead some time to results.

    Please do me a favour and unblock my name at instagram: berndschmid_
    Thanks.

  11. Thanks David this is great – and thanks for the book recomdenations. I noticed it’s not shipping in US for a while but is shipping from Amazon Canada now to US in the “untranlated” version 🙂

    1. I think we sent too many people to buy James’ book and Amazon has had to order more. Nice problem to have.

  12. That was the “perfect” post for me right now. Needed this kick in the arse. Thank you 😜

    1. Thanks, Bret. Always happy to know my words land somewhere good.

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.