Today I want to talk about an essential element to any creative business, or just any creative activity in general – imperfection.

Now, I completely understand the plight of the perfectionist. I’m a recovering perfectionist myself. I’ve been in so many situations where I’ve refused or been hesitant to post or release something that I didn’t think was perfect. But the thing is – it won’t ever be perfect.

When you’re dealing with any creative field, no matter what you do, there’s always going to be someone who is better at some aspect of what you do. There will always be someone whose work is more polished than yours, whose vision is communicated more clearly, whose success just seems greater than yours.

But since we’re dealing with creativity here, there just is no clear-cut path to perfection. And the imperfections that you worry about could be what draws other people to your work in the first place. Imperfections make you interesting!

Repeat after me: Perfect is boring. Perfect. Is. Boring.

If you try to emulate someone else’s style, vision, success, or whatever you perceive to be as “perfection,” your work will become boring.

This doesn’t even just apply to products or art. The way you present your work can be imperfect as well. In fact, in these days of social media, I even think that could be an asset. Why? Because people relate to imperfection.

You know that nobody out there is perfect. So when you share something that you’re just learning, or maybe even struggling with, you open yourself up to connecting people who can relate to your struggle or maybe even help you with it!

For example, I struggled a bit at first with sharing some of the photos of my relatively new creative hobbies of weaving and lettering on Instagram. I’m not great at either of these things. So sharing them seemed kind of strange and even a little nerve-wracking.

But the thing is, I wasn’t sharing them to say “hey, look at how great I am at these things!” It was more about sharing progress and giving people a look at some of the things I do that I just really enjoy.

So my challenge to you (if you choose to accept it, of course) is: dare to be imperfect. Share something you’ve done recently that didn’t go as you’d planned. Post photos of a work in progress or even your messy workspace. Celebrate the things you’re working on that could still use some work, and get excited for the improvements that you can make in the future.

If you only do things that you know you can do “perfectly,” you never learn. You never grow. You never make anything different or interesting.

I’m not trying to make this one of those posts that criticizes people for not being “genuine” online. I understand the value of putting your best content out there and not just airing all of your dirty laundry all over social media. But imperfections in art and creative ventures can help us acknowledge the ways we can grow, get us to connect with other creatives who can totally relate to the struggle, and maybe even get us to appreciate what we’ve made in all of its imperfect glory.

So let’s celebrate imperfection! What are some things you’ve worked on recently that weren’t quite perfect?