Just a few minutes prior to the first sentence I have clicked Ctrl + A and deleted close to 1000 words for the third time. Waste of time it is. Did I had any good writings there? Probably. Did I save them? No. Why? Because I got frustrated.

If your answer to “What’s your biggest weakness?” is “Perfectionism” and it is actually true, then yes, my friend! You are fucked! It is one of the most trivial answers, so you are by no means original, but you are indeed fucked! And no, it is not a great thing. Perfectionism is a disease. Will this paper help you fight it? You tell me. Let me first carefully illustrate how fucked you and I are.

Bukowski likes to imply that bad writers, talk about themselves. Well, I am a musician and absolutely no good writer, so I will be using myself as an example of the perfectionism’s epic level of “fuckedness”.

I write music since 10 years of age. Or 11. Somewhere there. I have lost count of how many songs I have in my portfolio. Guess how many I have released.

One

One song for 13 years, several months and a clock still ticking.

To make it even worst, I don’t even like the song. The only thing I hear when I listen to it are the things that I could have made better. That’s how perfectionism does it. It grabs you by the neck, ties your brain with the “you suck” lasso, and starts feasting on your dopamine and serotonin as if out of Stephen King’s “Salem’s Lot”. Not only do you become incapable of appreciating your art (or whatever you do) but you also become doubtful of your skills.

But then!

Then I start a new song! And I become the most dedicated man alive.

“I will definitely finish and release this one!”

And so I get to work with all the sweat and tears involved, until I realise I have dedicated so much effort into certain parts of the project that I am slowly beginning to hate every bit of it. All the sweet hormones in which my mind was boiling are gone and I reach the “fuck it” phase. Have I ever came back to an old project? No. I associate the nasty feeling of failure with it right away, so no thank you. Move on to the next one. Thirteen years long chain.

What I’ve learned.

I cannot work on one thing at a time from start to finish. Maybe you can’t either. I started undertaking several projects simultaneously and, oh miracle! There it is. It is happening! I can finally brag about me releasing 2, maybe even 3 singles by the end of Autumn (it is a lengthy process, yes). I am not talking about multitasking! I am talking about giving yourself the freedom and variety instead of restricting your mindset to one task only, risking turning it into an obligation.

More importantly.

I’ve also learned that you can’t really do it all by yourself. I was always fixated on the idea that I want my creation to be my creation and that’s final. This is the main reason why I never managed to gather a successful band, I guess. My ego was working against me pushing me to believe I need no one’s help and/or feedback, and that receiving such ultimately makes me lose credibility over my art. Now I’ve learned to share and I will keep on doing that. I advise you to do it too. It is still your creation, it just might end up being better.

One thing I will try to learn now is to care less. Not, not to care at all and join the party filling the world with senseless art, just for the sake of calling themselves artists! Just care less. This paper will be my first step. Not that I will not proof-read it but I will not really think twice about posting it due to the “this can be better” inner voice. If you like it you do, if you don’t you are not even reading this anyways.

I am not ignorant though.

I know perfectionism can be helpful and, if balanced, can improve results immensely. Needless to say it is a great characteristic when feedback is the goal. This is just a story of how it did not work out for me. I will not be able to brake my ties with it completely, nor it is my goal. I might as well dance with my enemy. I write this paper for the third time and contrary to my writings in the paragraph above, I have proof-read the paper several times already and had my fare share of correspondence with the deep, dark inner voice. Been dancing with this bitch for a while now, it seems. Quite the hypocrite. I hate hypocrites.

But here is an outcome.

A result!

I’ve published it!

It’s on!

Bitch!

Creativity! Is it a talent, are you born with it or is it a skill that is developed through practise? I have no idea. What I know is that the word “talent” is one of those words that grind my gears almost every time when brought up. It is one of, if not, the most overused, abused words in every dictionary. Let me justify my writings here. I have been playing piano since 5 years of age. I started guitar lessons on my ninth circle around the sun. I am 23 now. That’s more than 10 years of practice on each instrument. Now, when someone calls me “talented” I do not hear a compliment but rather my left eye starts twitching. I am not! Without the immense amount of hours spent on these activities I would have been as “talented” as a piece of wood!

My point in a nutshell is

YOU ARE CREATIVE

Some people are, of course, born with a more creative prospects than others. And this is what can actually be called “talent” — the potential of a person to advance a certain skill faster than other people. However, creativity as everything else, can be learned if the mind is put to it. So just for the sake of repetitive learning:

YOU ARE CREATIVE

You probably just don’t know it yet and you simply need a few ideas on how to practice your inner creative genius.

Let me give you some simple exercises because, yes, creativity can and should be trained.

Creativity is an essential attribute even for the suited up business people. Entrepreneurs especially. Creativity is not only “the cool thing that artists posses”. You can be creative for creating your own recipe for this amazing cake that will make the rest of the moms at your kid’s party envy your skill. You can be creative for delivering this great idea at work. You can also… No! You must be creative when building and managing your own business.

Let’s start the bench press for your creativity now!

- Break stuff

Not literally, of course, put that back down. What I mean by break stuff is visualise all parts of something as separate entities. The official name of this technique is “generic parts technique”. Pick an object and simply break it down into parts (in your head!). This method is particularly useful for problem solving. Break that problem down and solve it in its core.

- The routine

One of the greatest enemies of creativity is that fixated schedule of your time. You get up, dress up, go to work, have fun, go back home, call it a day. Having your time planned is not the problem, it is a good thing. However, it is essential to experiment with your daily routine. If you are traveling to work, make that trip a fun experience. Don’t be just reading the morning paper until the destination is reached every day. Your morning coffee, why buy it from that place again when there are other possible options. Minor changes will have unbelievable effect. You will be awaken and so will be your creativity.

- Laughing

Life is harsh and sore, especially on Monday mornings, but please do not forget to laugh! Your positive mood is an invaluable trigger for your creativity. It is scientifically proven that being positive boosts the activity in the prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex which are areas of the brain responsible for the complex cognitions, decision-making and emotions. Cheer yourself up and get that creativity boiling. Even I managed to pull myself to be a funny guy on a Monday morning.

- Comfort zone

Your comfort zone, as comfortable as it comes to be, is not your friend. It doesn’t even like you and wants to steal your creativity. Try to escape from it at least for a while, occasionally. Engage in new things and broaden your horizons. There is much more to see, solve, experience and learn.

- Listen to music

Music is the quickest way to reach out to your creativity. Listening to classical music is especially helpful as it increases creativity, concentration and other cognitive functions.

- Handwriting

Writing by hand is also said to be creativity empowering. Several authors writing on the subject of creativity suggest switching the Word doc with a pen and paper when possible. Open the notebook and give it a scratch. I might not be writing on paper now but I am already plenty creative. And awesome. Which leads us to the next tip.

- Be awesome

Or in other words be social. Spend time with people you trust and enlarge your network with other creative people developing in your field. You never know out of which conversation you will derive your million-dollar idea.

- Get outside of the box

Are you trying to generate ideas? Or you are establishing an idea further? Whatever the case, getting out of the usual setting in doing so will definitely deliver in some interesting results. If possible, sit by the window at work for a while thinking and observing. Get off that desk for a bit.

- Perfectionism

Do not, I repeat, do not be that person! While it might be perceived as an asset in one’s characteristics, perfectionism can result in the complete abandonment of an idea worth working on. Striving to deliver something outstanding and flawless can result in not delivering anything at all. What is even worse is the possibility of undermining oneself due to the inability to deliver astonishing results which will lead to the person’s belief he or she is not creative. You are! You are just over-pressuring yourselves. Climb each ladder steadily.

- Limit your amusement

Let me elaborate a bit here. I do not advise you to be a sad, unamusable person. However, do cut on that TV and cat videos at least a bit. While both mediators of joy might help for the third point “Laughing”, spending your evening watching TV everyday is not going to benefit you in the long term. Television has the bad habit of doing the imagining for you. So you are left with one function only — observance. Amusement leads to the absence of inspiration and thought. As we are being constantly advised, use television, movies, etc. to enlarge your creativity instead of replacing it.

- Exercise

Nothing frees the mind the way good exercise does. Keeping your body active will paradoxically help you rest your brain. Thinking with a fresh mind can help you come up with some interesting insights and ideas. Go sweat a little!

- Final outcome

Your outcome expectations are a source of great pressure. You have no way of knowing, if what you are currently working on will deliver in the precise way you imagine it. However, it is guaranteed that devoting your passion into it, without having the absolute picture of the final result, will allow you to broaden your view and maybe even surprise yourself at the end.

It is simple steps and changes as these that can help us maintain and even expand our creativity. If you desire to be a successful business person you should not undermine the importance of creative thinking.

You should also, as mentioned in the beginning, not use the word “talent” uncontrollably. Just putting this here for the sake of repetitive learning.

Boost that creativity of yours! was originally published in bidx Thoughts on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.