We are told growing up that we have to cut the paper neatly without making a mistake or that we need to be sure to take our time and color between the lines. “That’ll look the best”, we were told and we were compared to others in our class who appeared much better and more skilled than us.

But that’s one skill. One small area of expertise. In a vacuum, sure, maybe that’s relevant but we shouldn’t crush our confidence over something so meaningless.

We are great at a lot of things and if we aren’t great then maybe we try hard and enjoy the chance of improving. We don’t have to be an expert, a guru, or savants just to take on a specific project.

That’s the fun of it altogether. Messing up. Trying and crumpling up the paper. Not caring if it takes another try.

That’s when this magic of two colliding things happens. There is this thing that many before us have completed, accomplished, and tackled in their own way. Now we get to come in, with our unique perspective and experience on it all and create something incredibly different.

It may not even be recognizable and that’s quite alright. That’s when we create things that are truly original.

But we won’t know until we try. And we have to get out of our head that it needs to be some level of perfection.

It doesn’t.

It just needs to be you.

That’s a great place to start.