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There is this ad which says Jockey. Or Nothing. The idea is to tell their target audience that they should not settle for anything other than Jockey. Because Jockey is as perfect as it gets. It is an enviable brand whose customers have such exalted preference.
For all you know, it might just be a good ad that makes its consumers feel good about themselves. Because the reality is that there is nothing perfect in this world, in an absolute sense.
And yet, as a writer, I find myself often not being ready with an article or a story or a book because I think it is not perfect. This used to happen more often in my earlier days as an author. I have realised that it is a trap. We hold ourselves to such a high standard that sometimes it becomes a pretext for not bringing it out to the world.
What else do we hold to such standards in our life? Almost nothing else. Nothing or no one in our life is perfect.
Nothing we purchase is perfect.
No house, no car, no appliance is perfect.
No piece of clothing fits perfectly (not all the time!).
No employee we hire is perfect.
No customer that we work with is perfect.
Not even our spouse or children are perfect, however much we may love them.
Our families are not perfect.
Our leaders and representatives are far from perfect.
And finally, for writers, our readers are not perfect.
So why this perfection obsession with our writing?
Don’t get me wrong. No harm in trying to make it good, but perfect or nothing might, for all you know, a pretext to not finish.
A finished imperfect product is far better than an incomplete product waiting for perfection.
If you want to find a creative who doesn’t bring much out into the world, look for the mindset of perfect or nothing.
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