Is perfectionism holding you back as an artist?

BY KATY ABBOTT

There’s usually a moment – right when you’re about to press ‘submit’, or record one more take, send off a composition, or launch your website – that you find yourself tweaking one more detail.

Then another.

Then just one more.

In my 20+ years working with artists, perfectionism is right up there in the list of complaints for stopping them from really getting on with things.

This is true right around the country with recent stats suggesting perfectionism increasing, and that at least 25 per cent of young adults and children are exhibiting behaviour driven by perfectionism.

The line between high standards and perfectionism is blurry, I know. And isn’t it a good thing to have high standards?

Perfectionism isn’t about the height of one’s standards, or their relationship with creative work. I think it tells us more about our relationship with feeling good enough and our relationship with uncertainty.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for high standards, but perfectionism can be debilitating and capacity-draining.

On the surface, perfectionism should help artists create better work, but often it paralyses or exhausts them instead.

What’s really happening?

The visible impact of perfectionism appears as:

– Overpreparation

– Utilising all available time until the deadline

– Paralysis when sharing work

– Relationships being affected by slow responses.

Simple tasks become overwhelming.

On the outside, it appears to be (and is) high-quality work, characterised by attention to detail and reliability. But on the inside, there can be anxiety, exhaustion, and loss of creative authenticity.

Here’s the rub: the harder perfectionists try to control outcomes, the more it reinforces the pattern.

Perfectionism reduces our capacity to respond authentically to creative challenges. It dilutes our voice.

The real issue

The artists I work with often describe ‘knowing’ something is finished but being unable to trust that sense of knowing.

This key point illuminates that perfectionism isn’t about standards; it’s about overriding what you know, which, in turn, erodes self-confidence. A downward spiral.

Here’s what I’ve observed: although some perfectionists appear timid, go-with-the-flow or overly flexible, inside, they are often fiercely sure of themselves and what they offer.

So why the disconnect?

Jane* (name changed) decided to stop preparing her teaching day earlier in the evening to gain back some precious home time with her family. But when she logged out of her computer a mere 45 minutes early, she felt anxious, unable to relax, pervading guilt and a pull to keep perfecting her preparation because of her level of care for her students, and the importance of providing their music education.

Courageously, she experimented with trusting her years of experience, her keen ability to read a classroom, and knowing how to meet her students in the moment. Her classes are consistently powerful examples of evidence that shows she knows what is needed to give the best musical and personal experiences in the classroom.

She later mentioned to me that when it came down to her lessons, she’d often abandon her perfect planning in favour of following her instincts on the spot, reaching even greater outcomes through this level of improvisation. When she recovered her evenings, she also found that her standard of work became higher – and let go of the pressure to control.

A different approach

Start with small experiments in self-trust:

Notice the exact moment you realise a piece is ready. Where you’d normally keep tweaking, experiment with stopping instead. In my experience as a recovering perfectionist, the work maintains its high standard, but time, energy, and capacity for other things increase.

Play the ‘What If?’ game:

What if you finish something early?

What if you do your admin to 85 per cent standard but actually get it done?

What if you don’t pick up someone else’s slack this week?

These questions give you real information rather than fearful guesses.

Time-box your ideas:

If you have a concept that is endlessly developing but is not yet launched, give yourself a short timeframe to try it in the real world. If you hate it, at least you know. And you’ve built experience with yourself about experimenting.

Choose deliberately where attention to detail serves you – perhaps in your creative work, but not in your networking. This conscious choice transforms perfectionism from a compulsion into a strategy.

If we can become comfortable with ‘good enough’ in some areas of life, it becomes a doorway to discovering what’s really possible. Your capacity and imagination can grow. Your standards will still be high, but you gain the option of moving from excellent to vibrantly brilliant!

Is perfectionism holding you back as an artist?