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5 Ways to Stop Being a Perfectionist – #10 of 100

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In my last post I explained why perfectionism is an advanced form of procrastination. But if you’re anything like me, you know this but still find yourself constantly perfecting but not completing.

Here’s five ways of building and maintaining creative momentum by avoiding that niggling urge to perfect.

1/ Treat everything as a draft

Think of everything as a draft, not the finished article. You’ll trick your brain into focussing on the big picture and not the details.
You don’t have to worry about the details now. You just have to finish this draft. Get it done. You can go back and perfect it later.

Because it’s only a draft, it’s not set in stone and you’ll finish it. At worst you’ll have something tangible to work on, but at best you’ll have it in the bag.

2/ Take a break

When you’ve completed your “draft” make sure you take a break. The longer the better.

Sleep on it if you can.

When you’re fresh go back to it and you’ll probably find that its not as awful as you thought.

(And it might even be done.)

3/ Rush it

Pick a creative task that should take an hour.

Set a timer for 30 minutes and attempt to complete it. Hold yourself to account here and just get through it. Even if you think it’s terrible.

Rushing it means you won’t have time to think and you might even release your inner creative genius.

4/ Multitask

Continue working while reading and replying to some emails, or reading some blog posts, or tidying your workspace. It’s amazing what you can come up with when you only have half a brain on it.

This is the opposite of what I’d usually recommend as you’re intentionally forcing yourself to lose focus. But if you find yourself getting lost in details try it occasionally and in short bursts.

5/ Play!

Take what you’re working on and mess with it. Change everything. Be ridiculous. Shock yourself. See how far you can push it away from what you were intending.

Have fun. Be stupid. Go wild.

You never know what inspiration you’ll find at the edges.

Are you a perfectionist? How do you stop yourself? Please share in the comments…

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Filed Under: Featured Post Tagged With: perfectionism

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Mike Monday’s process has helped me enormously. I have two record labels, a heavy touring schedule, a wife and two children, and a music production career all running in tandem. There are times when it seems unmanageable and i get lost in a downward spiral that limits my effectiveness as a leader and my ability to be creative in the studio.

Whenever i have a session with Mike we talk it all out and a sense of calm comes over me. i get back to basics and work out all the things in my head that need to get worked out. His process is both calming and therapeutic.

I would also like to add that the additional fact that Mike is a music producer himself and a veteran DJ lends itself to an extra level of trust. I don’t think i would take advice or listen to someone in the same way who was from outside the music industry. In an nutshell I find Mike Monday’s process to be an extremely valuable way to organize and free my chaotic brain to do what it is supposed to be doing.

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