One thing that delayed me from exploring my creative self was the pressure for immediate perfection. I wanted to be perfect within a short space of time, it was like the world was in a race and I was eager to catch up. One attribute I lacked was embracing the ugly first draft. Each failed attempt already made me feel like a failure, so I tried to ensure my first two to three trials were perfect drafts and when they weren't, I gave up. It was also one of the reasons why I loved the comfort zone, the ugly first draft left negative impressions on me.
People like me exist, we seek for perfection without appreciating the small ugly steps. Funny enough, I preach about little process and embracing small beginnings, but close doors, they were things I never practiced. There was certain joy and pride I felt if my first drafts were beautiful and I dread each time they weren't so. For years I battled with it, I refrained from anything I wasn't sure to give a perfect first draft, and one impact it created on me was to stay stagnant, enjoying the areas I was perfect and never growing.
Image generated using Gemini AI
Perfection is a myth, no one ever attains that height. We can master certain art, but we never gain perfection, because learning never ends. The only way to grow is to embrace the ugly first draft. This was hard for me to learn as a person who always wanted immediate perfection. Every step is worth celebrating, from the small wins to the bigger ones, from the low-stake to the high-volume creation. It doesn't matter what we try and how the outcome turns out to be, it's worth celebrating, and this is because we are one step ahead from creating something good.
Do you still remember how your first creation ever was? Sometimes we may just say "Nay, I can't do it" but on a second try, we realized it was more beautiful than the first and it never gets worse, rather, it gets better. Sometimes it's not about the failure, but dealing with the mindset behind the impression of our first ugly draft. Our first attempt to write may have been discouraging, but as long as we embraced that first draft, everything started to make sense. If we shun the need for immediate perfection and embrace our first ugly draft, we'll soon realize so many things we would have been able to do that never made it to a second attempt.
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