This piece stemmed from the desire to have this reminder, “Progress Over Perfection,” hanging above my studio desk for encouragement each day, and I hope you find it a helpful reminder to have in your work or living space too!

I consider myself to be a recovering perfectionist. I used to take so much pride in my perfectionism back in art school. In my senior year artist bio I proudly claimed my perfectionism to be the reason my portfolio stood out with such high quality— a memory that makes me simultaneously cringe and laugh at my naivety & ego now.

Once starting my business after school I learned some hard lessons about how my perfectionism was not what was propelling me forward, but instead it was what was holding me back from making progress with my business and art career. It’s been ten years of encouraging myself to kick perfectionism off its pedestal and I can say it’s still hard work reminding myself of this every day—hence the new printed encouragement!

I like to hold my work up to high quality standards but being a perfectionist about the quality is not going to allow me to cross that task off my list and move forward with progress. There is no such thing as perfection because it is a subjective standard anyway, so striving for it is a waste of time. So instead, I have been working to strive towards “good enough” standards. While this may sound lazy or lacking in some way, I find it to allow me a new freedom to test, change, and keep on keeping on, making progress along the way.

“Progress Over Perfection” has also been adopted by the sustainability movement in the battle against climate change. Often in the sustainability movement you hear the term “zero waste,” which can be off-putting, unapproachable and exclusive, because zero waste equates to perfectionism and just like perfectionism, it is also impossible to achieve. Just existing as a human causes waste and impact on the planet, so reaching a “zero waste lifestyle” is not reasonable. Instead, it is more important for us to focus on progress with sustainable measures than this zero waste perfection. What is one small step you can take towards a more sustainable lifestyle this week? Not every single sustainability habit will fit with your lifestyle, and that’s okay, but don’t let that discourage you from trying something at all.

Anyway, no matter the context, I hope this print encourages you to buck perfectionism and keep pushing forward with your goals one step at a time!