I went to a conference once, and one of the speakers said something I’ll never forget. His opening words were, “Dare to be Mediocre!” (Umm…professional development…what?—we were all momentarily confused.) It definitely caught our attention.
He went on to say that of course we all strive for perfection, but no one — ever — is perfect right out of the gate. If we wait for perfection, we’ll never do anything. We must be willing to do our current best, however imperfect, and that’s all we can do. By daring to be mediocre we free ourselves from the perfectionism that so stifles our creativity. It seems contradictory, but, by letting go of our idea of ‘perfect’ — our perfectionism — we free ourselves to become our ideal.
Do your best, do it with skill and passion, and you may well hit the mark after all.
I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.
~Pablo Picasso
Adapted from an original post on April B, Soprano (May 16, 2013)