On its surface, perfectionism seems like it would be a professional advantage, a creative accelerator. But really, as a driver, it hits the brakes more often than the gas.
Perfectionism stops you from starting projects— or even relationships— because you are not ready. It stops you from finishing projects because they’re never quite right. “When it’s perfect!’ is our defense, but this habitual overthinking leaves us stymied, unable to get over ourselves and just move.
Should you strive for excellence? Of course. Pay attention to details? Yes. But never let “perfect” stop progress. You know what’s better than perfect? Done. Done is better than perfect.
— James Victore, ‘Feck Perfection: Dangerous Ideas on the Business of Life’
‘Being process-oriented, not product driven, is the most important and difficult skill for a designer to develop.’
Being process-oriented means:
1. Seeking to understand a design problem before chasing after solutions.
2. Not force-fitting solutions to old problems onto new problems.
3. Removing yourself from prideful investment in your projects and being slow to fall in love with your ideas.
4. Making design investigations and decisions holistically (that address several aspects of a design problem at once) rather than sequentially (that finalize one aspect of a solution before investigating the next).
5. Making design decisions conditionally — that is, with the awareness that they may or may not work out as you continue toward a final solution.
6. Knowing when to change and when to stick with previous decisions.
7. Accepting as normal the anxiety that comes from not knowing what to do.
8. Working fluidly between concept-scale and detail-scale to see how each informs the other.
9. Always asking “What if…?” regardless of how satisfied your are with your solution.
— Matthew Frederick, ‘101 Things I Learned In Architecture School.’
Persuasion, in other words, often involves— indeed, demands— compromise. Perhaps that is why the most effective persuaders seem to share a common trait: they are open-minded, never dogmatic. They enter the persuasion process prepared to adjust their viewpoints and incorporate other's ideas. That approach to persuasion is, interestingly, highly persuasive in itself. When colleagues see that a persuader is eager to hear their views and willing to make changes in response to their needs and concerns, they respond very positively. They trust the persuader more and listen more attentively. The don’t fear being bowled over or manipulated. They see the persuader as flexible and thus are more willing to make sacrifices themselves. Because that is such a powerful dynamic, good persuaders often enter the persuasion process with judicious compromises already prepared.
— Jay A. Conger, “The Necessary Art of Persuasion”
“Beauty is due more to harmonious relationships among the elements of a composition than to the elements themselves.”
It’s the dialogue of the piece, not the pieces themselves, that creates aesthetic success.
— Matthew Frederick, ‘101 Things I Learned In Architecture School.’
Mechanical processes have predetermined outcomes, but the creative process strives to produce something that has not existed before. Being genuinely creative means that you don’t know where you are going, even though you are responsible for shepherding the process. This requires something different from conventional, authoritarian control; a loose velvet tether is more likely to help.
Engage the design process with patience. Don’t imitate popular portrayals of the creative process as depending on a singular, pell-mell rush of inspiration. Don’t try to solve a complex building in one sitting or one week. Accept uncertainty. Recognize as normal the feeling of lostness that attends to much of the process. Don’t seek to relieve your anxiety by marrying yourself prematurely to a design solution; design divorces are never pretty.
— Matthew Frederick, ‘101 Things I Learned In Architecture School.’
