Whenever I come up with a new idea for a project, I take
about a day to dream about it, and then the next day, I do it.
I hear so many brilliant, creative people say that they’re going
to write their screenplay, or their novel, to start their business “someday.”
But someday is today.
I used to think like that too. I used to believe that I wasn’t
quite capable yet of whatever it was that I wanted to accomplish, because I
wanted it to be perfect. But my great grandmother wrote me a little poem once
that said, “Count that day lost, when the low-descending sun views from thy
hand, no worthy action done.”
That verse changed my life. Every day should contain at
least one worthy action, and that probably looks different for everyone—but for
me, I often think of it when it comes to my work and writing. Every day, I want
to move at least one step forward in whatever it is I’m working on.
Perfection is what holds us back. Perfection kills
creativity. Perfection puts to death the ability to ever take a step forward.
So I killed perfection. If you read my first drafts, they’re
raw. If you took a look at some of my murder mysteries, they’re kind of rough.
My visual novel contains mistakes, glitches, and errors that an advanced
programmer would never make.
But I made something.
As long as you begin, and as long as you finish what you
started, you can always refine it later. Just don’t stop working on it because
it isn’t perfect or because it doesn’t match what is in your head. Nothing in
this world will ever be perfect.
Let me say that again for the people in the back:
NOTHING IN THIS WORLD WILL EVER BE PERFECT.
So stop trying to make it perfect. If you aim for perfection, you are destined
to fail. If you aim to do your best, and make the best product that you’re
capable of at that moment, you’re going to succeed.
If you just go ahead and begin, you’re already leaps and
bounds ahead of those who say they’re going to make their dreams come true “someday.”
