Lower the Threshold to Completion

I think us humans have a natural tendency to feel a tonne of pressure when creating something. It makes sense really, you’re pouring yourself into your work and the outcome is (in a way) offering up a piece of yourself. Should it be poorly received, what does that say about us? Or more, what are we going to tell ourselves that says about us. - People hate the work, maybe I’m not good enough?

This is particularly true of perfectionists, of which I am one. Well, people have always called me one but if I'm honest I never really agreed til more recently. I'd have an image, a vision in my head of what I wanted to create, and I wouldn't put the work out there until I'd reached the like-for-like copy between physical form and mental vision. It’s taken a long while to realise, but yeah, that's perfectionism.

There's nothing wrong with wanting something you create to be exactly what you had in mind, if you can do so with relative ease and the pursuit doesn't become all consuming. - Rarely true amongst perfectionists.

Realising this about myself, I wondered what the answer was, I figured maybe I just needed to put out imperfect - and working on making it perfect later? So that's what I tried... but it didn't sit right. Why would I want to create something if it doesn't represent the thing I actually wanted to create in the first place? Often when I'm working on something, the very first moment where something comes together is awful, it looks awful, it feels awful, it's awful.

So, I'm working by a different approach now. “Lower the Threshold to Completion”. What this means exactly depends on the project, but essentially the idea is to lower the barriers to completion in a way that doesn't sacrifice on values or vision. At the same time, holding in mind that the tangible aspects of the project might look different from what I first hyper-fixated on.

To give an example, for the past few years I've really wanted to put together a periodical coffee publication. I wanted it to contain long-form, deep-dive stories, touching on vast coffee-related topics. It was going to be smart, and very deeply considered, a serious read for people serious about coffee. I've tried three times to bring this vision to life. It wasn't happening. But I realised, I was chasing a really polished and specific idea. In many ways, I'd done all the work in my head before putting in any of the actual work. What I'd ended up with in my head was less of a vision, and more of a perfect and immaculately executed product. Something so perfect, it would never - could never - exist in the way I'd dreamed it up. But what if I lowered the barriers?

I thought more about why I wanted to create the publication and about aspects of the idea that were important but less tangible, like what did I want the reader to feel, what times of day and occasions did I see them reading it. Thinking about all these things, and more, I realised it didn’t need to be a really chunky book, with tonnes of deep dives. In fact, I could fulfill my vision better if it was smaller (in size and page count), deliberately scrappy (so I don't have to overthink the visuals), and largely focus on the writing above all else. It sounds simple, but it completely changed my approach. To sit down, and rebuild the project intentionally, as oppose to trying to create this illusive dream product from my head.

Down the line, projects evolve, and it may be that with time I end up closer towards my original idea, the journey will tell, but if I don’t, it doesn’t matter because I’ve been able to put together something worthwhile and inline with the original purpose.

But all that said... we'll see if it actually comes to life this time...