Don’t let the search for perfection fool you
I used to write earlier in the blogspot age. Then I moved to my own domain with a few friends. Our website was called DeadMango. I guess it was destined to be dead. For the past few years, I have been writing on Medium, aiming to create pieces that I will revisit and read as reminder notes for my future self.
Alongside writing, I started sharing my work as well. Incidentally, on a platform called Deepstash, I gained some “followers,” which felt good.
However, as time went on, I began to restrict myself. My writing became subject to an automatic filter. I would think, “Oh, I wrote about this before,” or “This isn’t consistent.” I would nitpick at grammar and sentence structure, always striving for improvement. While I deeply appreciate those who create valuable content for others, that was never my primary goal. I initially set out to find a way to assimilate my thoughts and learning. Adding value was secondary.
The spotlight effect is the psychological phenomenon by which people tend to believe they are being noticed more than they really are. Being that one is constantly in the center of one’s own world, an accurate evaluation of how much one is noticed by others is uncommon.
This anchored me heavily. “This article is not good enough” or “this topic is not interesting”. In doing so, I locked myself out of writing,
forgetting that the key to becoming better at writing is simply writing.
I took a detour and started making videos again with something which I like. Learning to edit and quotes.
I keep hoarding quotes and I realized I keeping loosing them also. So here we are with a youtube channel
I started with text on images, now trying to churn videos stitched together. Even trying to bring in my own shot videos. Somedays I make a video just to keep the streak going. Sometimes I feel this video is not up to par but I publish it anyway. Why? Because the benchmark for perfection is imaginary.
“Your editing has improved” — A friend
This is the best compliment, I have received and I keep it to remind me we need to strive for perfection but should not be limited by it. Your “flawed “ creations need to be let out, they are paving the path to something beautiful.
Here is a reminder ted talk which underlines the importance of giving yourself freedom to be creative. To “Play the Fool”
