Have you ever found yourself overthinking a problem or becoming paralyzed with the fear of solving it? Then you’ve likely experienced Mind Games.
Excerpted from my purple Poppin “Anything Goes” journal on November 3, 2017
In a “Catch 22”
I’ve been in such an overwhelming creative mood lately that I don’t know what to do. Which notebook do I use? What do I write, doodle, etc., in it when I decide? Result: Nothing. No artistic expression whatsoever; rather, a stifling of it.
Why is it so important I follow some unknown set of rules for being creative? Not even I know the rules, so I’m in a “Catch 22” either way. What will it take for me to finally be confident in pricking a notebook—for whatever situation—and just start creating?
Am I too scared of what will come out if I start letting myself create? Am I too afraid it won’t be good enough? If so, by whose standards am I judging my own work? If by my own, then—news flash—you can’t judge what hasn’t yet been created!
You can’t judge what hasn’t yet been created!
I just read an article yesterday on lifehack.org1 on the topic of how perfectionism really screws you up. Basically, it said that perfectionism is really self-doubt; it’s the inability to let yourself be free to do the work because of fear. This is the “resistance” that Steven Pressfield so accurately describes in his book The War of Art.
Perfectionism is really self-doubt; it’s the inability to let yourself be free to do the work because of fear.
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