A few days ago, I was playing some youtube videos while preparing my lunch. Recently, I've really been into a channel by a guy named Nathaniel Drew. If you are familiar with him, you know how touching his videos can be. He brings out many reflections on his channel and showcases his personal relationships in a way that inspires me a lot. He inspires me by making me think about my takes on the topics he mentions and how I could improve my own relationships, but his video editing and storytelling skills also make capturing attention extremely easy. If you haven't already, go check him out and mention you read about him here.
In one of his videos where he is sharing a day in his life living in Paris while his parents were visiting, he was having this sort of deep conversation with his dad, where the dad mentions
We cannot always be outputting without taking things in a little bit.
That sat with me for a while. Thinking back on my past experiences, this was no doubt what I was doing but I never thought of it as a negative thing. I would have my eventual vacation days to rest, right? Until then I could continue to perform as well as I could and things would go on as they should. But then Nathaniel also mentions that being the artist he is and by making a living with his craft, always performing at this optimal rate without ever stopping is impossible. Tired and overworked never equals optimal or perfect.
In order to put what we have to offer out there, we simply cannot strive for perfection. In fact, it doesn't even exist. The more I think about it, the more it becomes clear to me that being proud of what you make is much more important than making it perfect. If you achieve perfection, what else is there for you to learn and improve upon?
Nothing is more certain in life than making mistakes and learning from them, but for that to happen, we need to take the time to learn from them. To take things in.
Appreciating my progress, even if no one else is seeing it, is slowly becoming law for me. I'm focusing on striving less for perfection and more for good enough, leaving myself room to experiment and make mistakes. Taking my progress in, being grateful for where I am, what I have to work with and the path beyond me has had a huge motivating power in my life. I mean, look at how much I have to learn, to fill my time with! I could be interested in so many things, I could dedicate myself to being so good at my passions that they will speak for me and for themselves. I could grow my confidence in my craft while growing my skills at the same time, not having to wait to be an expert to actually like what I put out. How freeing is that?
My next mission in this path is to translate that into my corporate world. As I write this post, going back to it is slowly becoming less daunting and more like a challenge (and not just a need). Working for a company is quite different from having a personal side project or even a full-time income stream of your own. Our rhythm and needs don't always match those of a company, but instead of neglecting myself, how can I strive to feel rested, and energized and that I have the opportunity to take things in when I have reports, targets to hit, and a team to work with? What would be the best mechanisms I could use to cope with this scenario? I'm still trying to figure that out and this answer will be left to future posts, but feel free to share your thoughts and ideas down in the comments!
X.O.
IAS
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