Art_table

Bliss…another full creative day in the studio. Rare indeed and I am soaking it up like a sponge! The muse is tickling my heart! Part of the difficulty of losing my Main Street studio, has been moving my office/studio home. It is a much smaller space and I am now sharing it with clients. It means keeping it just a tad cleaner then if it was my old studio, so I am working hard not to let that impact my own creativity.  My clients tell me that the "mess" actually inpires them to create. I hope so as I have moments of thinking it should be "perfect." I have always told people that I first started out working on the floor on a tarp in my studio apartment. It can be easy to sabotage our creative flow when we think…size matters.

Speaking of perfection…I had an interesting discussion today with a woman about her business. She was needing a reminder not to "bite off more than I can chew." I shared with her my philosophy…process not perfection. For so many years, I thought everything had to be perfect right out of the gate. It was actually crazy making for me and led to more stress than necessary.

The process not perfection theory is based on the idea that our businesses and lives are an evolutionary process. It is all about transformation. Things evolve and change over time, and rightfully so as our businesses and lives shift and change. How can the picture stay the same? That would be unhealthy. It would mean we were stagnant.

In my mind, the idea of evolution means we start wherever we are and we recognize that at some point we might just be as ready as we will be in that moment. It is good enough and that is just perfect in itself. I don’t mean we do things half-heartedly, but we don’t strive for perfectionism either! 

Perfectionism leads to stress, illness, crazy making behavior and worst of all…burn out. I have been wearing a bracelet on my right wrist since 2005, it says, "Life is a journey, not a destination." It is a daily reminder that is is all about process not perfection.

WRITE IT: Where in your life do you currently utilize the process not perfection mantra? Feel free to post a comment.

3 Responses

  1. Hi Sheri,
    Great question! And these days, the answer is EVERYWHERE! … In my garden, where I enjoy digging in the dirt and I don’t worry as much about a few weeds; in my home, where I can walk past a basket of unfolded laundry and not have a panic attack; and of course in my art, where you helped me to discover that the worst thing is not doing it… so I make time for what is REALLY important and I remind myself every day to live in this moment. Wonderful blog!!!

  2. I have recently realized that something my mother taught me is so wrong: anything worth doing is worth doing right. I loved your blog! There are so many things in my life that I play with and don’t feel that I have to do perfectly. I recently took art lessons and learned just enough to sketch things for my own pleasure. I taught myself calligraphy from a book and I do it just for fun. Reading, writing, sketching, decorating: everything creative is worth doing with any degree of “correctness.” Elizabeth

  3. Elizabeth and Kerri,
    Thank you so much for commenting. Elizabeth, I love this idea,”Reading, writing, sketching, decorating: everything creative is worth doing with any degree of “correctness.”
    I understand where you mother’s idea came from, yet to me it speaks of that goal oriented cultural expectation. Creativity naturally speaks to the feminine nature and what I discuss in my classes is about setting intentions and allowing ourselves to have a “direction.” Within this direction their is always room for change and growth.
    And yes Kerri, I too am determined to life each day in the moment!
    Have a creative day!
    Sheri