Abandoning Perfectionism
Dana Kearns Brou is a graduate of the Film and Media Studies program at Queen’s University. She currently works as a government communications administrator and is a first-time expectant mom.
Creative constipation can strike any writer at any time, no matter what kind of writing work they do. The remedy? Let go of the need to write perfectly, and escort procrastination out the door before it even knocks.
When I first started writing this piece, one recurrent image I couldn’t shake was one from popular culture during my childhood. If you grew up watching Sesame Street, you probably remember a character named Don Music, a Muppet who was forever frustrated by his inability to remember the final lines to children’s classics such as “Mary Had a Little Lamb”. Shaggy-haired, bespectacled and forever visited by reporter Kermit the Frog, the tormented composer would bang his head on the keys of his piano before adapting Kermit’s suggestions until he’d written and performed a song that bore no resemblance whatsoever to the one that had him so stymied. During university, sadly, I could relate a little too closely to Don Music’s creative trials, save for the head-banging.
Back when I was writing university essays, every assignment was a source of creative torture. I would search for the perfect quote to reflect the thesis of my paper, and couldn’t move beyond the starting line until it was just right. It had to be inspiring, dramatic, and capture the essence of my subject matter to a ‘T’. I applied this stifling approach to practically every sentence, and perfection was eternally elusive. And it’s not as though I didn’t possess the technology to manipulate and organize my thoughts…equipped with my brand-spanking new 386 PC, I had the ability to type in random thoughts, clever turns of phrase, evidence to back up my observations, but not the confidence nor the willingness to commit my own ideas to paper until they were phrased just so. I had to sound smart, original and maintain a certain level of formality, too. A tall order indeed! In my eyes, anything short of perfection was all but useless.
Working in tandem with my stubborn perfectionism was the other dreaded ‘P’ word, enemy of any student engaged in producing works of academic necessity: procrastination. Together, this evil duo brought about many sleepless nights and much mental anguish, not to mention late papers. What’s worse, I still always managed to pull off marks of 80%+ in spite of my dysfunctional work habits, the lack of consequence only serving to prove that my process was just fine, thank you. The only positive offshoots of this passive-aggressive approach? A spotlessly tidy bedroom, mountains of freshly-done laundry, and currency with the most recent episodes of Party of Five, Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place. Anything I could find to help me avoid actually making progress on research papers that had been assigned weeks earlier, that’s how I would spend my time. My bibliographies were always done first, and I was meticulous about accuracy of both content and format. If there were so much as a period out of place, or the wrong amount of spaces between author and title, it would have been a source of major embarrassment.
Robert Benchley, the American humourist and newspaper columnist, offers this bit of wisdom on the subject of procrastination: “Anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at that moment”. Much less subtly, an unknown author once mused: “Procrastination is like masturbation. At first it feels good, but in the end you're only screwing yourself”.
Now, nearly 15 years later, I find myself operating under a whole new set of rules. Sure, I still care about writing well, and expressing my thoughts clearly, but I’ve let go of the obsessive need to write perfectly, and not only has it freed up and improved my creative process immensely, it means that I get work done quickly and far less painfully. What’s more, I have far more time to spend with my family and friends, and just generally enjoy life. My most basic advice to accomplishing stress-free writing? Start as early as possible, even if it means just scribbling a few words or ideas on paper or typing them into a Word document on your computer. This lets your ideas brew and gel together for longer, sparking new connections and bringing your thoughts out of the realm of abstractness and into concrete, easy-to-relate-to concepts. Even if they’re not at their sharpest right out of the gate, that’s okay – they can be shuffled around later into a logical, unified whole. And, don’t forget to get up and walk away from your computer once in a while. Have something to eat, take a walk outside, talk to someone on the phone. You’ll find that you return to your work refreshed and can view it with a more objective eye.
Now, as I reflect back on the process that brought me to the end of this piece, I challenge anyone reading it to be able to tell me which of the two processes I followed. I’m quite sure that it’s far from perfect, and believe it or not, that’s a good thing. That evil duo, Perfectionism and Procrastination, haven’t held me hostage for a long, long time. And I don’t think it’s any coincidence that Nike, whose ad slogan “Just Do It” has propelled athletes around the world into action, is also the Greek goddess of victory!
