May 3, 2023 • 11 mins
Join me this week as I share how and why to use precision in creative work over perfectionism.
I share:
- My journey from perfectionism to precision using throwing pottery as a metaphor
- The problem with perfectionism, and how it stops creativity
- How to define precision for yourself, and a practice to do this week
Want some support in getting quiet and tuning into what you’re thinking about, or what’s calling to you, today? Go to www.jenmoulton.com/newsletter and sign up to get my completely free Intuitive Creation Audio Ritual. You’ll receive my unique process to reliably tap in BEFORE you make any creative work so you can overcome procrastination, overwhelm, and where-do-i-start-itis.
Get the full show notes and more information HERE
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Welcome to the Creative MomentumPodcast.
I'm your host, Jen Moton, and Iteach creative women how to make
their passion projects real,things that make a difference in
the world.
If you're ready to stop lettingyourself doubt hold you back and
start doing the work, you are inthe right place.
Let's get into today's episode.
(00:24):
Welcome to today's episode,Precision Over Perfection.
Let's talk about perfectionismand more specifically an
antidote that I turn to whenperfectionism crops up for me,
which is precision.
As a member of this community,if you're listening right now,
(00:45):
I'd say it's more likely thannot that you identify as a
perfectionist.
And that's my educated guessbased on experience.
And here's what I know,perfectionism can be truly
debilitating, and worst of all,is it slows us way, way, way
down.
(01:06):
We create less, share less, andtherefore have less to offer the
world, and less of the impactthat I know that each of us
desires to make.
We move slower.
And the worst part is thatperfectionism can become
crippling as time goes on, andthe acceptable window of
tolerance becomes smaller andsmaller.
(01:31):
This is problematic for manyreasons, but mostly because I
believe that the world needseach of us to make our unique
contribution.
I believe that all of us have aunique offering based on our
personalities, what we come intothis world with, our
conditioning, our uniqueperspective and point of view,
(01:56):
and that someone somewhere needswhat you're thinking about.
And when we go to perfectionism,which is understandable, that's
part of our culture, a lot ofconditioning that we receive.
But when we work throughperfectionism, we offer less of
ourselves.
It's filtered, right?
(02:17):
It needs to be perfect, aperfect version of us, a perfect
version of our idea.
And I think that that isultimately tragic because it's
diluted.
We dilute ourselves, our ideas,what we create are diluted, so
that they can fall into perfectperfectionism.
(02:39):
And I don't believe that's whywe're here.
I don't believe that we're hereto become perfect beings who
make perfect things and offerperfect things to the world.
I think we're here to live ourhumanity, and follow our
curiosities, and give to otherpeople.
I think most people have thatcalling, especially if you're
listening right now, I imagineyou do.
(03:03):
And that you want to share yourwork with the world.
And I think perfectionism is ahurdle that a lot of us need to
learn how to, I wanna sayovercome, but it might actually
just be learning how to workwith it.
It might not be something thatever goes away.
For me, the idea of precisionhelps me work with my
(03:24):
perfectionistic tendencies.
And I wanna share a reallyimportant, and I think freeing
distinction that I've learned.
And I'm gonna use the example ofthrowing pottery, which is one
of my favorite mediums to workin.
So if I'm throwing pottery andI'm using perfectionism to do
(03:45):
it, this is what it sounds likefor me:'this is how I know how
to throw perfectly.
And I don't take into accountthe moisture of the clay, the
humidity outside, thetemperature, the form I'm
throwing.
I am only thinking about this isthe perfect skillset, this is
(04:05):
the perfect way to throw a pot.
And so I'm gonna follow thatseries of steps, and I'm not
gonna take into account anythingelse.
That's perfectionism.
I'm gonna do this act perfectly,but I'm filtering out other
information in the process.' Andit's really limiting, I think,
because we're not using theinformation and the wisdom that
(04:28):
is available to us in thismoment.
Throwing pottery, or throwing apot, in this example from
perfectionism means that I'm nottaking advantage of all of the
resources that I have availableto me in this moment.
Now, let's compare that toprecision.
(04:50):
To me, precision sounds likethis if I'm throwing pottery
again, that's the analogy thatwe're working with here.
I'm doing what my training hastaught me.
I'm using the best skillsetthat's available to me, with all
of my hours of practice andstudy, and I'm attuned to the
information and the input thatI'm receiving and noticing in
(05:14):
this moment, and that makes thework better.' So I'm using my
best skillset in the moment,given how my body's feeling, how
I'm rested, how nourished I am,et cetera, all of the training
I've been through and received,all the classes I've taken, all
(05:35):
of the studying I've done, I'malso taking into account
environmental factors, thetemperature, the humidity, the
moisture, and also this likemagical I, this is what I love
about pottery is every day isdifferent.
So you can try to control forall of the materials and it will
still be different day to day.
(05:55):
I feel like that's why this issuch a beautiful metaphor or
analogy here.
And I think that incorporatingall of the information that's
available to you, what's goingon in your body, in your life,
your training, your skillset,environmental factors in the
moment, that makes the workbetter.
(06:17):
And I think that's the wholepoint.
I think that's the beauty of it.
I think years ago when I wasstarting to make creative work,
I had such strict rules formyself about, I mean, talk about
perfectionistic work.
A lot of the jewelry that Imade, I had to strive for
(06:38):
perfectionism because the marginof error in jewelry is really,
really slim, like millimeters.
Can make a huge difference, anda part of me loves the challenge
of that, but part of it was alsoprobably not very helpful,
because it just made me be moreperfectionistic because there
was such a slim margin of errorand things could go wrong in one
(07:00):
second, or by taking away a halfof a millimeter too much wax or
a flame being on metal forliterally a second too long.
That just kind of fed myperfectionism.
But then I started to learnpottery and it was this
basically like lawless landwhere so many different things
(07:22):
are impacting it.
Clay is not as controllable asmetal and it was such a
beautiful experience for me toyield to the creative process of
clay because you can controlsome things and you cannot
control some other things.
That was a bit of a tangent, mykind of meditation on jewelry
(07:46):
and pottery and I mean, I lovethem both so much and they're
both, I think, differentexpressions for me of my
creativity.
Okay, so back to precision.
Precision is magic.
It is a magical combination ofskill, intuition, presence, and
(08:06):
flow.
And it's only available to us ifwe are open and curious.
And I think our work and ourexperience of making is so much
better for it.
I love too, that precision canbe different day to day, based
on like a minute ago what I wasjust saying about how's your
(08:27):
body feeling, how rested areyou, what's the temperature
like.
All of these different factorsmean that it changes day to day-
your expression of precisionchanges day to day.
I think that's the most trueexpression of creativity that
there is.
It's not something that we cancontrol and hold really tightly
(08:49):
and define.
It's this flowing, kind ofmystical process that we all
participate in and are obsessedwith, I think.
And partially because we know wecan't hold it.
It's like sand, right?
Like the harder you hold it, themore it slips through your
hands.
(09:10):
Very similar to that.
It's something that we wannaparticipate in and understand
more and learn more and expressmore, but it's not something
that we can like put in a boxand really define.
Okay, so that's my, I guess,meditation on precision over
perfection.
(09:31):
And this week I would encourageyou to experiment with precision
versus perfectionism.
Notice what it feels like torecognize that you're in
perfectionism.
What is that patterning like inyour body?
What does it feel like?
What are you telling yourself?
For me, I like hold a specificbody pattern.
(09:53):
Like my shoulders are kind oftight.
I'm like controlling, right?
I'm trying to grip and controlsomething through the
experience.
And for you, what is that like?
What does it feel like in yourbody?
What does it sound like so thatyou're aware when you're in it.
(10:13):
And then when you notice you'rein perfectionism, consciously
lean into precision.
What is your experience likewhen you're in precision?
When you're in the highestexpression of your creativity
today?
What that looks like today?
Not a macro definition of yourwhole life, but what is it like
(10:34):
for you today to expressprecision in your creative
practice?
I'm so glad that you are hereand that we get to walk our
paths together.
See you next time.
Same time, same place.
Bye for now.
Thank you so much for listeningtoday.
If you wanna feel intuitive inyour creative practice, end tap
(10:58):
into your one and 8 billionperspective and contribution,
head over towww.jenmoulton.com/newsletter
and get my intuitive creationaudio ritual.
You'll receive my unique processto reliably tap in before you
(11:18):
make any creative work so thatyou can overcome
procrastination, overwhelm, andwhere-do- I- start-itis.
See you next week
Welcome to the Creative MomentumPodcast.
I'm your host, Jen Moton, and Iteach creative women how to make
their passion projects real,things that make a difference in
the world.
If you're ready to stop lettingyourself doubt hold you back and
start doing the work, you are inthe right place.
Let's get into today's episode.
(00:24):
Welcome to today's episode,Precision Over Perfection.
Let's talk about perfectionismand more specifically an
antidote that I turn to whenperfectionism crops up for me,
which is precision.
As a member of this community,if you're listening right now,
(00:45):
I'd say it's more likely thannot that you identify as a
perfectionist.
And that's my educated guessbased on experience.
And here's what I know,perfectionism can be truly
debilitating, and worst of all,is it slows us way, way, way
down.
(01:06):
We create less, share less, andtherefore have less to offer the
world, and less of the impactthat I know that each of us
desires to make.
We move slower.
And the worst part is thatperfectionism can become
crippling as time goes on, andthe acceptable window of
tolerance becomes smaller andsmaller.
(01:31):
This is problematic for manyreasons, but mostly because I
believe that the world needseach of us to make our unique
contribution.
I believe that all of us have aunique offering based on our
personalities, what we come intothis world with, our
conditioning, our uniqueperspective and point of view,
(01:56):
and that someone somewhere needswhat you're thinking about.
And when we go to perfectionism,which is understandable, that's
part of our culture, a lot ofconditioning that we receive.
But when we work throughperfectionism, we offer less of
ourselves.
It's filtered, right?
(02:17):
It needs to be perfect, aperfect version of us, a perfect
version of our idea.
And I think that that isultimately tragic because it's
diluted.
We dilute ourselves, our ideas,what we create are diluted, so
that they can fall into perfectperfectionism.
(02:39):
And I don't believe that's whywe're here.
I don't believe that we're hereto become perfect beings who
make perfect things and offerperfect things to the world.
I think we're here to live ourhumanity, and follow our
curiosities, and give to otherpeople.
I think most people have thatcalling, especially if you're
listening right now, I imagineyou do.
(03:03):
And that you want to share yourwork with the world.
And I think perfectionism is ahurdle that a lot of us need to
learn how to, I wanna sayovercome, but it might actually
just be learning how to workwith it.
It might not be something thatever goes away.
For me, the idea of precisionhelps me work with my
(03:24):
perfectionistic tendencies.
And I wanna share a reallyimportant, and I think freeing
distinction that I've learned.
And I'm gonna use the example ofthrowing pottery, which is one
of my favorite mediums to workin.
So if I'm throwing pottery andI'm using perfectionism to do
(03:45):
it, this is what it sounds likefor me:'this is how I know how
to throw perfectly.
And I don't take into accountthe moisture of the clay, the
humidity outside, thetemperature, the form I'm
throwing.
I am only thinking about this isthe perfect skillset, this is
(04:05):
the perfect way to throw a pot.
And so I'm gonna follow thatseries of steps, and I'm not
gonna take into account anythingelse.
That's perfectionism.
I'm gonna do this act perfectly,but I'm filtering out other
information in the process.' Andit's really limiting, I think,
because we're not using theinformation and the wisdom that
(04:28):
is available to us in thismoment.
Throwing pottery, or throwing apot, in this example from
perfectionism means that I'm nottaking advantage of all of the
resources that I have availableto me in this moment.
Now, let's compare that toprecision.
(04:50):
To me, precision sounds likethis if I'm throwing pottery
again, that's the analogy thatwe're working with here.
I'm doing what my training hastaught me.
I'm using the best skillsetthat's available to me, with all
of my hours of practice andstudy, and I'm attuned to the
information and the input thatI'm receiving and noticing in
(05:14):
this moment, and that makes thework better.' So I'm using my
best skillset in the moment,given how my body's feeling, how
I'm rested, how nourished I am,et cetera, all of the training
I've been through and received,all the classes I've taken, all
(05:35):
of the studying I've done, I'malso taking into account
environmental factors, thetemperature, the humidity, the
moisture, and also this likemagical I, this is what I love
about pottery is every day isdifferent.
So you can try to control forall of the materials and it will
still be different day to day.
(05:55):
I feel like that's why this issuch a beautiful metaphor or
analogy here.
And I think that incorporatingall of the information that's
available to you, what's goingon in your body, in your life,
your training, your skillset,environmental factors in the
moment, that makes the workbetter.
(06:17):
And I think that's the wholepoint.
I think that's the beauty of it.
I think years ago when I wasstarting to make creative work,
I had such strict rules formyself about, I mean, talk about
perfectionistic work.
A lot of the jewelry that Imade, I had to strive for
(06:38):
perfectionism because the marginof error in jewelry is really,
really slim, like millimeters.
Can make a huge difference, anda part of me loves the challenge
of that, but part of it was alsoprobably not very helpful,
because it just made me be moreperfectionistic because there
was such a slim margin of errorand things could go wrong in one
(07:00):
second, or by taking away a halfof a millimeter too much wax or
a flame being on metal forliterally a second too long.
That just kind of fed myperfectionism.
But then I started to learnpottery and it was this
basically like lawless landwhere so many different things
(07:22):
are impacting it.
Clay is not as controllable asmetal and it was such a
beautiful experience for me toyield to the creative process of
clay because you can controlsome things and you cannot
control some other things.
That was a bit of a tangent, mykind of meditation on jewelry
(07:46):
and pottery and I mean, I lovethem both so much and they're
both, I think, differentexpressions for me of my
creativity.
Okay, so back to precision.
Precision is magic.
It is a magical combination ofskill, intuition, presence, and
(08:06):
flow.
And it's only available to us ifwe are open and curious.
And I think our work and ourexperience of making is so much
better for it.
I love too, that precision canbe different day to day, based
on like a minute ago what I wasjust saying about how's your
(08:27):
body feeling, how rested areyou, what's the temperature
like.
All of these different factorsmean that it changes day to day-
your expression of precisionchanges day to day.
I think that's the most trueexpression of creativity that
there is.
It's not something that we cancontrol and hold really tightly
(08:49):
and define.
It's this flowing, kind ofmystical process that we all
participate in and are obsessedwith, I think.
And partially because we know wecan't hold it.
It's like sand, right?
Like the harder you hold it, themore it slips through your
hands.
(09:10):
Very similar to that.
It's something that we wannaparticipate in and understand
more and learn more and expressmore, but it's not something
that we can like put in a boxand really define.
Okay, so that's my, I guess,meditation on precision over
perfection.
(09:31):
And this week I would encourageyou to experiment with precision
versus perfectionism.
Notice what it feels like torecognize that you're in
perfectionism.
What is that patterning like inyour body?
What does it feel like?
What are you telling yourself?
For me, I like hold a specificbody pattern.
(09:53):
Like my shoulders are kind oftight.
I'm like controlling, right?
I'm trying to grip and controlsomething through the
experience.
And for you, what is that like?
What does it feel like in yourbody?
What does it sound like so thatyou're aware when you're in it.
(10:13):
And then when you notice you'rein perfectionism, consciously
lean into precision.
What is your experience likewhen you're in precision?
When you're in the highestexpression of your creativity
today?
What that looks like today?
Not a macro definition of yourwhole life, but what is it like
(10:34):
for you today to expressprecision in your creative
practice?
I'm so glad that you are hereand that we get to walk our
paths together.
See you next time.
Same time, same place.
Bye for now.
Thank you so much for listeningtoday.
If you wanna feel intuitive inyour creative practice, end tap
(10:58):
into your one and 8 billionperspective and contribution,
head over towww.jenmoulton.com/newsletter
and get my intuitive creationaudio ritual.
You'll receive my unique processto reliably tap in before you
(11:18):
make any creative work so thatyou can overcome
procrastination, overwhelm, andwhere-do- I- start-itis.
See you next week
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