Perfectionism

Thoughts on perfectionism. My self-discovery journey.

[Design & Rendered by Weina Li | HLW, Oct., 2020]

“I think perfectionism is just a high-end, haute couture version of fear...Because underneath that shiny veneer, perfectionism is nothing more than a deep existential angst that says, again and again, "I'm not good enough and I will never be good enough.” - Elizabeth Gilbert in Big Magic

I think all designers can relate to this! We tend to spend countless hours to design and perfect renderings, never stop till last second. Then sometimes we look back at the finished design and question ourselves why took us so long to do that? I’m not saying it’s not a lot of work, but perhaps we can take a break and take a step back sometimes.

Do that when we’ve already worked a lot of hours, do that when we feel stuck, do that when we feel frustrated and think in our head “I’ll never get this right”. Instead of forcing yourself keep going because you are a dedicated designer, go take a hot shower, go take a walk, go pour yourself a glass of wine and read one of your favorite books, go get away from screen for couple hours, go do yoga, go meditate, go play with your pet, and the list goes on.

“We must understand that the drive for perfectionism is a corrosive waste of time, because nothing is ever beyond criticism. No matter how many hours you spend attempting to render something flawless, somebody will always be able to find fault with it.” - Elizabeth Gilbert in Big Magic

Maybe when we loosen up a bit, and our body and mind are well rested, new ideas and discoveries will make their way to find us. Currently working on defriend perfectionism and testing out this theories myself.