74: Perfectionism Is Rarely About Standards

Perfectionism Is Rarely About Standards Most makers who struggle with finishing and releasing their work will tell you it's because they have high standards. And that's probably true - the standards are real. But here's what doesn't get said often enough: the perfectionism isn't actually serving those standards. It's working against them. Which means something else is going on underneath all that refining and adjusting and not-quite-finishing. This is episode eight in an ongoing series on building a stronger creative practice - and it's the direct companion to episode 73. Last week was about scale: the goal feels too big and nothing gets started. This week is about standards: the work doesn't feel good enough and nothing gets finished or released. Two different problems with remarkably similar answers underneath them. What perfectionism is actually doing - most of the time, for most makers - is protecting them from the vulnerability of releasing something real into the world where it can be judged. An unfinished piece can't fail. A piece still being refined is still potentially perfect. The moment you call it done, that protection disappears. Drawing on research into evaluation apprehension and Adam Grant's work on creative volume and quality - and grounded in honest personal accounts of imperfect iteration across surface pattern design, garment construction, mixed media textile art, and the business of teaching - this episode makes the case that releasing imperfect work is not a compromise of your standards. It is the only mechanism through which your standards actually improve. You cannot improve what doesn't exist. Link to The 10 Principles: http://www.virginialeighstudio.com/learn. The VirginiaLeighStudio Home page: https://www.virginialeighstudio.com Chapters 00:00 - It Claims to Be About Standards 02:29 - Why "Done Is Better Than Perfect" Doesn't Actually Fix the Problem 03:39 - The Companion to Episode 73: Scale vs. Standards 04:11 - What Perfectionism Is Actually Protecting 05:11 - The Piece That's Still Potentially Perfect 06:26 - Evaluation Apprehension: The Fear of Being Judged 07:06 - You Can't Improve What Doesn't Exist: The Iteration Argument 09:15 - Adam Grant, Picasso, and the Volume Principle 11:36 - Jon Acuff: Brave Enough to Be Bad at Something New 12:05 - The Honest Version: Imperfect Iteration Across Studio and Business 16:31 - Start. Release. Learn. Improve. In That Order. 18:48 - Close: The Judgment Was Never as Bad as the Cost of Waiting Connect with Virginia: Website = https://www.virginialeighstudio.com Instagram = https://www.instagram.com/virginialeighstudio/ Facebook = https://www.facebook.com/virginialeighstudio