Perfectionism is often touted as something to wear as a badge of honor, because who doesn’t want or need perfection?

More likely, it is just a protection mechanism we’ve developed to avoid criticism, blame, judgment, or hurt of some kind.

As a recovering perfectionist, I know this very well.

But considering how the most effective leaders delegate tasks to others if those people can accomplish the tasks at least 70% as well, why then do we fiddle around so much doing everything ourselves until it’s all perfect?

This is a little like “getting ready to get ready” syndrome—another sort of procrastination and stall tactic to avoid getting it wrong or, Goddess forbid, not being perfect!

Now, I’m not suggesting we should adopt a half-hearted attitude in going about our business, but I am saying perfect isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Perfect can seriously get in your way.

It is the small imperfections that make us unique, and even if AI can generate art or copy or whatever, it’s never going to be quite as good as when a human puts their imperfect touch on it.

Look at any person’s face, and you will see slight imperfections. One eye slightly higher, a brow tilted a bit differently. It’s never perfect.

We identify something as “handmade” by looking for such imperfections.

Artists will often slightly mess up their work after they’ve finished to give it that special quality.

We are perfectly imperfect, so let us embrace this and stop simmering in fear or avoiding getting on with it.

When we do make mistakes, we will get better.

Years ago, while attending an “Artist Conference,” the idea of letting go of perfect was encouraged.

For example, if a painter needed to create a body of work for a gallery showing, they might be given the task of painting one painting each day for two weeks. It didn’t matter if it was good or not; they simply had to create 14 paintings and be accountable to only that.

BTW, the artist conference network is still around: www.artistconference.com

The point is, practicing imperfection yields results.

During the merry month of May, with flowers and frolicking through the woods, make sure you bring more play to your work and enjoy the process of simply doing things without consideration of how perfect it all turns out.

Have fun, Goddess.