If you’ve been following me for any time at all, you know that I’m a self-declared imperfectionist, and imperfectionism is a foundational concept when it comes to living a full-color, creative life.
But what does that mean, exactly?
It’s easy to think that imperfectionism means sloppiness. Settling for less than what we’re capable of.
But imperfectionism isn’t that at all, and I want to set the record straight about what imperfectionism is. [Read more…]
Hey Letter-Lover,
Do you ever feel frustrated with your lettering? Like it’s never going to be as good as you want it to be?
Boy, I sure do! Story of my LIFE!
In fact, I was sharing in my Creative Sandbox community just this week that nothing brings out my perfectionist gremlins like calligraphy!
Letters are such small, precise forms. A half a millimeter in this direction or that could throw everything off!
Yes, precision is wonderful. And yes, mastery and excellence are great to aim for.
But they are not everything!
If you’re not having fun, what’s the point?
Truth: part of [Read more…]
One of the subjects I’ve written a lot about over the years is the tension between the pursuit of excellence or mastery, and the pursuit of happiness.
This tension has been on my mind this week, because lately I’ve been lax in my commitment to work out.
Almost a year ago, I started doing these online TurboFire workouts, through Beachbody.com. I really wanted to get in better shape, I know exercise is one of the best things you can do for your brain, for willpower, for creativity, for longevity and quality of life, and I was so excited to find a way to get more exercise into my life that didn’t require driving to a gym.
I committed to following the TurboFire 20-week calendar — six days a week for twenty weeks.
Now, I didn’t always stick exactly to the program, and I there were days I missed, but for the most part I was pretty consistent, and it paid off.
And I kept it up, even after those twenty weeks!
It felt great to be making my health and fitness a priority! I had finally figured out how to build workouts into my days, and I thought I’d have a (mostly) daily workout habit from now on.
I even had dreams of getting the flat belly I’ve always wanted, but which has been out of reach since my metabolism has slowed down as I’ve gotten older.
Well, the flat belly didn’t happen, and recently, I have to admit, my commitment has flailed.
Now, part of the issue is [Read more…]
A few days ago I got an email from Barbara, a textile and mosaic artist, that touched a nerve with me.
The problem that Barbara is struggling with is exactly the same problem that I had way back when. I know it’s a problem that a lot of other people share, so I thought I’d address it here on the podcast/blog.
If you listened to (or read) the last episode, #59, you’ll find a lot of overlaps with this one. That’s how it works: all the blocks and resistances and stucknesses that hold us back are intimately related and woven together, and the solutions for getting past them are, too.
Everything is interconnected, so when you learn to handle one challenge, you’ll find that you actually know how to handle lots of challenges.
Here’s Barbara’s letter (edited a bit for clarity):
I’ve been trying an experiment lately.
Instead of waiting to do any art-making until after I’ve completed the rest of my morning ritual (which can hear all about here), I’ve been taking 15 minutes first thing after I wake up to draw in bed.
I always say, “The thing I do first is the thing that gets done,” and when life gets busy (which is most of the time, really!), it’s all too easy for creative sandbox play to not happen at all…
Hence this experiment: unless I have to rush to be somewhere (which rarely happens, because I do my best to avoid morning appointments!), at least I get 15 minutes of art time to start the day.
And that makes me happy!
Feeding my creative hungers makes my day go better.
Here’s today’s [Read more…]
