Embrace Imperfection to Grow

When starting a new job, I am always haunted by the need for perfection – no mistakes, no miscommunication, and absolutely no stupid questions. The goal is to do whatever I can to appear flawless and reaffirm why I was hired. I know that this mentality is constricting, and yet, I do it repeatedly.

The first time I broke out of the perfection cycle was while studying abroad in Spain. My professor pushed me to see that my mistakes are valuable and that perfection should not be the end goal.

We were a group of 20-something bright-eyed students climbing off of a bus. Everything was unknown. We came expecting sun, modern apartments, and a studio overflowing with every art supply you could imagine. What did we have? A studio space that could hardly fit all of us standing together… let alone creating.

Our professor challenged my downcast face – “Make art with the limitations that you have.” The first few weeks were spent in frustration bumping elbows trying to fit my large-scale ideas into the small box we were working in. Hours were spent at the local art store trying to communicate in my minimal Spanish what I needed and failing. I hit a point of devastation that my project wouldn’t work. I was so focused on making the fabric look perfect in a way that was impossible with the tools I had.

My professor helped me to see how the areas that I had thought were mistakes, the places where you could see my hand creating, were the most interesting parts about the piece and to embrace it. “Show your process and humanness – that is what everyone wants to see.” The tiny exposed stitches became important to the final work.

I suppose my lesson was twofold. First, use limitations to help create and to show your process. With art and starting a new job, squirreling away just so you can present a sparkling finished project is not what people or your leaders want to see. There is no benefit in omission. Second, collaborate and push the boundaries. This involves yourself and your coworkers. Collaborating expands your viewpoint as well as theirs. Embracing mistakes gives room for growth and innovation – where perfection doesn’t.

Breaking away from trying to be perfect, in a project or in life, will take you places you may never go otherwise.