Since a few years I have taken up painting again, and on Tuesday mornings I go to art class. Just a couple of hours of getting out of my head, working with my hands…being creative, meeting others. Although, getting out of my head? Hmm. I wish this was 100% true. This is a story about my weekly art class, and what my latest artwork taught me.
I don’t know about you, but whatever I create always has to be of high standard. I have high expectations of myself. So, even at art class, which is meant to be ‘just for fun’, I tend to put a lot of pressure on myself to make something perfect. This means that I often hate the end result. It is not good enough in my eyes. Isn’t that silly?
Putting so much pressure on myself means I take the joy out of creating.
Letting go of perfection
This week, something interesting happened, which is I believe is very relevant to how many of us work.
My art teacher Lucy told us all to start painting without much thought, as it was ‘only’ going to be used as the background for a collage. We would stick stuff on top, so it didn’t matter what it looked like.
So I chose some nice colours, and started slapping on the paint. A bit here, a bit there, I added some texture, some shapes. I felt no pressure whatsoever, and I was enjoying the process.
And then, suddenly, I thought, I really like this painting! No, I actually LOVE this painting. I am having so much fun, and it comes with ease, it is actually flowing right out of me!
Why is this story relevant to you?
Because as a creative business coach, I work with so many clients who do exactly that: looking for perfection, and not letting things flow. They feel scared of launching their offers, or even posting a video. Who still haven’t put their website live because “it is not good enough yet”.
Many of my clients shy away from creating something that is truly unique and ‘them’, and instead post safe, bland and generic content that could have been written by anyone. Because anything else might be seen as ‘wrong’. And we don’t want to be seen as stupid or inadequate.
We are all trying to create that masterpiece. And we think people will see us as a fraud if we share anything less than that. You are not a fraud. And you are good enough.
So today I give you full permission to play.
Play with words, with images, with colours, with silly posts, personal stories, imperfect videos. Launch that offer. Publish that website. Don’t take it all so seriously.
Show up in your full imperfection.
Because you may find that when you take a more relaxed attitude, your business flows better. Your clients will relate to your human side, and you feel a lot less stressed.
We are often very much in our masculine energy of go-go-go, action-taking and result-driven. This seems to be the language of the corporate world and often also in creative entrepreneurship. But running a business can also be gentle, more nurturing, softer and transformative. A different approach, but certainly not less effective.
I call my latest artwork ‘Forza feminina’, or ‘Feminine power’.
What are you creating this week? Be fearless. Play.
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