We all want to produce our best work. Striving for excellence is a good thing. But that desire often quickly turns into a slippery slope. Soon we find ourselves writing and rewriting, rewriting and rewriting, editing and editing, caught up in a never-ending spiral, and ultimately sacrificing our work in the pursuit of perfection.

This is a trap that many creative people fall into. It causes otherwise courageous people to avoid taking the risks they need to take in order to produce new, energized creations. It can lead to feelings of inadequacy and depression. It can also turn what was once a passion into a source of pain. In the job search process, it's easy to fall intoImpostor SyndromeThe

To avoid this pitfall, we need to be in the right frame of mind to engage in creative endeavors and be alert to the many pitfalls along the way.

In this short article, we will explore some of the basic principles of healthy and creative thinking. We will look at some of the pitfalls and misconceptions we are sure to encounter and what actions we can take to keep ourselves out of their clutches.

The Embrace Process

Creativity is the result of a process. It is not a flash of inspiration through any magical spell or special potion. The specificity of this process varies from person to person. You need to find the process that works for you. Whatever it is, you need to make sure that it is a process that you can stick with, a process that is fun (to a degree), and a process that you have confidence in.

The process must lead to a definite end point. That is your goal. Your goal is to complete the process. Your goal is to reach the end. Your goal must not be based on the quality of the finished product. This is what it means to "embrace the process". Be mindful of workload management. Stay focused and avoid multitasking.

Targets should be set based on productivity rather than quality.

Whatever your career goals are, and however you define them, there is inevitably a productivity component to them. For example, if your goal is to become a best-selling author, you need to write books (plural). Writing a bestseller is not a career goal. It's a status goal. It is a vanity goal, not a creative goal.

Instead of trying to write the best book you can, try writing it. This process will determine your level of creativity. The more you go through the process, the better the end result will be. If you only go through the process once, no matter how hard you work and how much attention you pay to detail, the end result will still not be as good as if you had gone through the process many times.

Challenge yourself and grow

If you've done the best you can, you can't go any further. As the name implies, "growing" means you haven't reached your full potential. This is a good thing. Growth is good. It's inspiring. For creative people, the prospect of growth is a powerful motivator.

It means realizing that your current output is not your greatest output. It means realizing that your current creative output is more like a snapshot of your life at this stage. It is not an epitaph on your tombstone.

Recognizing that your best work is yet to come will inspire you to continue to create, to continue to go through the creative process, and to look forward to the ever-increasing quality of your work.

Allow yourself to fail.

This step in the creative process is probably the hardest to stick to. But it is also probably the most important.

By allowing yourself to fail, you are allowing yourself to take risks. This is important because without risk there is no creation.

In fact, in order to allow yourself to fail, you need to surround yourself with like-minded people - people who understand that this is a crucial step in the creative process; people who don't jump to conclusions, but are quick to forgive. It's a common mistake in the job search process for people to get frustrated by expecting too much of themselves, but current job search platforms such as Lensa allow them to test their skills, realize what they need to achieve their goals, and grow with it.

Karen Carpenter's Immortal Quotes

Creativity requires courage: the courage to take risks, knowing that they may fail (and in full view of the public). As the name suggests, creative people take risks. They are not perfectionists. Perfectionism is the antidote to creativity.

I'll end with a quote from one of my favorite singers from the 1970s:

It doesn't matter if you can't sing well enough for people to hear you. Go ahead, sing a song.