35 minutes

Overriding creative blocks; all you need to get started and to keep going.

35 minutes. The exact time it takes to walk from Kings Cross Station to Soho.

35 minutes. The time it takes for me to run 5K on a slower day.

35 minutes. The timer that hacks my perfectionism and makes it possible. Also the timer that I’ve set myself to write and finish this post.

I’m clocking in at 28:33 and counting.

You see, when I was writing last week’s post, I had also set a timer to complete it. I agreed to myself that whatever I had time for within those 35 minutes, I would allow myself one proofread and publish.

I can honestly report back to base and share that throughout my busy week, it has been eating at me. Last week’s post on Serendipity kept popping into the forefront of my mind, like mosquitos at dusk. I tried each time to swipe the thoughts away by reminding myself that something doesn’t have to be perfect in order to be a success, (said Chris McCausland before his winning performance on Strictly Come Dancing 2024).

Why do I need things to be perfect? Genuinely, why?? I’ve been weighing this up over time and I have come to accept that I think my need for perfection is actually a good thing but my ability to placate it and not feel diminished in the impossible tasks that I set myself is even better.

When you inherently need things to be perfect, your ability to let go of the outcome and just celebrate the fact that you took action on something really gets strengthened - has to get strengthened, otherwise we’d live with a daily disappointment in the shadow cast by our imperfections.

19:21 remaining.

This need to get over myself in this way, has also meant that I have had to redefine what success has therefore meant to me. Since it no longer could be for this thing - whatever it is - to be perfect, my refined personal definition of success began to emerge as building, sustaining and living a lifestyle that enables me to take action on my dreams and interests, to be able to pay it forward through by energising others and give it my all whilst enjoying the journey of getting there.

All week I’ve been thinking about last week’s post and thinking, could it have been better? Could I have shared more? Why did I publish it in wild abandon when I could have been “perfecting” it for so much more? (Before jumping into this post, I had clicked onto last week’s and was going to change it, amend it, improve it - there’s always room for improvement! But I’m binding my hands, overriding my need for perfectionism and going full anarchy).

But did I post about something that was meaningful to me - something that I would choose to talk about? Yes. Did I challenge myself by writing about something that I usually keep close to my chest because it divides opinion and can be seen as soft and illogical? Yes. Did I keep to my weekly goal to share something from my process and therefore something that others could potentially resonate with? Yes. Could it be improved? Yes - I would love to write even more on the subject, give some more historical context and share insights that deepen my own (and therefore potentially our) beliefs but the main thing is that I wrote it!

07:12 remaining.

Your creative project doesn’t need to be perfect in order to be a success. You don’t have to be perfect in order to be a success. Your life doesn’t need to be perfect in order to be a success. A life well-lived is a perfect life. And a project made is a project made - that is a bloody great success in itself!

My dear fellow creators out there, keep taking small steps and micro actions. Make that phone call. Follow up on that email. Meet for coffee. Write that chapter. Flesh out that beat sheet. Carve out that non-negotiable R&D time that’ll inevitably inch you closer to the life you desire and grow you in the process. Focus on the learnings, the doings, the friendships and the rewards that you are accumulating through time and enjoy watering the garden.

My artistic journey has taught me to never underestimate the qualities of a gardener! The patience, the consistency, sewing seeds and never being in control of whether it’ll grow - and at what speed, the constant pruning and nourishing. The gardener also has to take care of herself. She needs quality sleep, sunlight, hydration, oxytocin, dopamine and nourishment, so that she has the energy and health to see her plans come into fruition - and wonderful friends to share the roller coaster of excitement, unknowing and the celebration with.

That’s time.

35 minutes exactly.

If you need that push. Feeling uncreative, blocked or avoidant. Set that 35 minute timer and before you know it, you have overridden perfectionism in order to create - you don’t have long, so make it count.