I’d like to share with you today a very profound feeling that used to block me a lot in the past and kept me away from developing my skills as a writer.

I’m talking about the It-has-to-be-a-masterpiece syndrome. 

Or in other words…

Being a perfectionist.

And let’s be honest…

As artists we tend to be very perfectionists… and that’s the truth! 

We want the world to see the very best, perfect, and most incredible version of our art.

However, over the years I found out that this need to show the very best version of our art to the world can backfire very easily. 

So much that if we don’t learn how to control this perfectionist mind, it leads us to block our creativity up to the point where we get so stuck that we cannot move forward anymore.

Believe me, as a writer I was in that stuck point for years!

After years of struggling with this, I came to a point where I understood what I believe is a TRUTH BOMB:

Perfectionism is a way to procrastinate –delay– the moment of going out there and showing up as the artist you are within, even if by doing so you know deep inside it would mean to get closer to your dreams and grow like never before in both your life and your career.

This is the thing.

Many of us are self-proclaimed perfectionists when we actually are experiencing…

Fear of not being talented enough.

Fear of the feedback we may get out there.

Fear of showing to the world who we truly are and being vulnerable.

Or what is the same: Fear of failure.

BUT… as you may already know, there’s no such thing as failure, only learning.

Actually, the most successful artists in the world have failed much more than the rest and have learned and applied all those lessons to keep getting better and better!

So what I do now when I’m doing creative work with my writing is –instead of thinking “this has to be my masterpiece”  or something along the lines–  I repeat to myself:

I found this quote from Sheryl Sandberg a while ago and it just clicked on my mind.

This concept helped me a lot to get over my fears and insecurities about publishing and finishing my work as a writer.

By just repeating it to myself and internalizing the concept, I’ve been able to accomplish in a few months more than in years… because I just let go of that perfectionist part in me and put in place a DOER mindset instead.

My very simple personal tip to IMPLEMENT A DOER MINDSET: 

When I’m writing, I set a timer. By the time it rings, I can’t keep working on that piece anymore. I just have to move on and publish it in one way or another. 

This time constraint really helps me get the job done in that specific timeframe and also trains my mind –over and over again– to understand that it doesn’t have to be perfect in order to publish it and that what really matters is the practice and repetition.

Because the more you repeat a process… the better you get at it.

Until a point where you become an expert in your craft.

Although never perfect… because nobody is!