Write of Passage Weekly

Hello writers,

Welcome back to Write of Passage Weekly, home to the best writing advice on the Internet. 

Last week, you learned to write from the mundane. Today, we’ll take a hard look at perfectionism and why it’s a vice, not a virtue.

Let Your Creativity Flow

“I’m a perfectionist.”

That’s how you might answer “What’s your greatest weakness?” in a job interview. You think you’re being sly, boasting a strength disguised as a weakness. You think being a perfectionist means having high standards and a great work ethic. But perfectionism is a weakness — a vice disguised as a virtue.

Perfectionism is pathological. It’s the compulsion to chase an illusion: perfect.

Perfectionism, at its core, is about wanting absolute control of the outcome and not permitting missteps along the way. But the more you try to control the creative process, the less freedom you give yourself to create. When you outlaw mistakes, you remove opportunities to learn.

Perfectionism is an obsessive preoccupation with yourself and the quality of your work. It sets unrealistic expectations of yourself. Those high standards squash the courage you’d otherwise use to push yourself and try something new. It’s a death by a thousand cuts — falling short of one impossibly high standard at a time.

Perfectionism is especially deadly in writing, because it prevents the opportunity for serendipity. Something serendipitous is, by definition, an accident. But perfectionists don’t permit accidents. So, they don’t benefit from the serendipity that comes from creative experimentation.

If your creativity is a river, perfectionism is a dam. Bring those standards down to earth so your creativity can keep flowing. When you stop aiming for perfection, you can start focusing on improvement.

From Our Alumni

David Appears on Alum’s New Podcast

Hannah Frankman, founder of rebelEducator, interviewed David on her podcast about the future of education: “There are so many ways to use the Internet to deliver an experience at a quality, at a scale, at a price point, that just isn’t possible with traditional schools.”

Thank you for reading Write of Passage Weekly. We’ll be back next week with more of the best writing advice on the Internet.

Happy writing,

The Write of Passage Team

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