There once was a writer, who would say to himself:
“I’m just going to spend an extra thirty minutes to make this article perfect.”
Without even knowing it, the thirty minutes had passed, and he was still unhappy with his writing. Still, he thought to himself:
“Let me spend another day trying to make it perfect.”
Another day passed, and it was still not perfect in his perspective. Many days passed and he was finessing, structuring, highlighting, and making many adjustments to his scrunched-up drafts. In this manner he spent much time trying to make his writing perfect, without ever publishing anything. He became frustrated with himself. Frustrated with his own inaction.
What is perfection?
Is it a capital “P” or Lowercase “p”?
Is being perfect with everything really important?
Perfection can mean a lot of things to many different people.
Perfection is a perspective. It is a subjective matter.
Objectively subjective or subjectively objective, a paradox we chase in pursuit of perfection.
An article that feels incomplete to the writer may feel perfect to the reader. The creator's lens is rarely shared. And that's where imperfection finds meaning.
The Progress of Imperfection
Creative works are rarely tidy. They are bold, unordinary, rare, unusual and typically not perfect.
Take for example, Karl Benz, widely credited with creating the first practical automobile in 1885. It was a three-wheeled vehicle designed with a carriage with an engine bolted on. What Benz created was out of the ordinary, in age where horse carriages transported people inside black boxes. It seemed very impractical at first and still seems impractical today. You don’t see many people driving around a three wheeled open vehicle today. The car was imperfect in its own way, though it was what people needed in that particular time.
Fast forward to when Henry Ford released his first car. It was quadricycle with pneumatic tires and body made of wood. Ford in his pursuit to provide consumers with affordable, safe and durable cars in 1908 released the Model T. Model T was a game-changer made of vanadium alloy steel. It was stronger and lighter that conventional steel at the time. Ford had a vision. To build a motor car for great multitude…so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one.
If either Benz or Ford had waited to release their ideas. We would not have progressed to where cars are today. Their first cars were never perfect. If they waited to make the first car with the aim to make it perfect, the brands of Benz and Ford would have never existed.
Both products released by Benz and Ford worked. All they had to do was to make it more convenient for consumers in their period of time.
Human Nature - Our Act of Perfect and Imperfect
As humans, we like things that are perfect and imperfect at the same time. We like things to be perfect when we have done them in a particular way for a long time. We get annoyed with our colleagues at work when a piece of work is not done as per our expectations. Our level of perfection. Our perspective. Our method. Our way of doing it.
In the opposite direction, we never get annoyed with children. They may color the walls with crayons, find enjoyment and being creative. Children usually draw imperfect stick figure hands and legs with a large head with big eyes. We find amazement in the drawing and cherish the moment.
Athletes are imperfect all the time and we still go to watch them. The football player unintendedly kicks the ball to the opposition allowing them to score a goal. If we like to be perfect so much, why do we still like watching sports. There is imperfection execution of skills. The imperfect execution raises the thrill. The thrill of not knowing what will happen.
This is what makes us human. Human nature.
We like to play safe and unsafe. Typically skewed to one side based on the situation.
The creator still aims to create something perfect but not at the cost of ever creating anything at all.
Creativity Doesn’t Require Order
Being perfect only destroys our creativity. Creativity is the act of being and doing the action without ever being consumed by the outcome.
If you are sitting at your computer or reading this on your phone. Have you asked why your keyboard is not in a linear manner. ABCDEF. Instead, its QWERTY. It makes no sense. This is creativity it doesn’t have to make sense or be perfect. Imperfection can become a societal norm.
We can spend time in motion, but if we never make the final, decisive action, every prior effort amounts to nothing.
When was the last time you were creative? Does your ego stop your creativity from coming outside?