My best sketches were made on scrap paper, because I didn't want to ruin a good sheet.

"Perfectionism is not the way; it is in the way." Merchandise this. It's awesome.

Extra tip: I learned this from "Atomic Habits" by James Clear. Have you ever realised that almost all the habits you tried to create in the past, like exercising, studying, reading, you don't actually do anymore? Or when you plan to do your assignment but find yourself not doing anything until right before deadline where you spend the whole day doing it? The answer might be procrastination. When trying to build a habit, the 2 minute rule really helps to stop with procrastination. Start with a very simplified version of that habit or in other words, a 2 minute version, then build your way up. You procrastinate doing that assignment because you think it's a hassle to write that 30 paragraph essay. Instead of thinking like that, think that you will just write 1 sentence. When you feel like you can do more, that's the best time to stop. For example: Let's say you want to start going to the gym. The biggest mistake people make, is that they get very motivated and enthusiastic which makes them do their best and try as hard as possible. Then the next day they get a bit lazy, and couldn't do as well as the previous day. Then the next they do the same thing. Then after a month they fully stopped. Instead of going full on 2 hours at the gym, do it for 2 minutes instead. It doesn't necessarily have to be that exact time, the point is that you do a simplified version of the habit. Point is that you master the art of "showing up" itself(this video also said that the most difficult part is to show up). It's not that you can't do it for 2 hours again after doing it for one day, but it's that you don't even show up to the gym because of your procrastination. If you instead just try to first create a habit of showing up to the gym, you would be able to then upgrade that easy habit into something better. Imagine just reading one page of a book. It's not that big of a deal isn't it? You wouldn't procrastinate just reading one page would you? Now imagine doing what you've always done, and try to imagine reading for 3 hours. You would get all lazy and procrastinate right? After getting an inch of motivation, you instantly try to do it for as long and as hard as possible until your motivation fades. So instead of doing that, just read a page until could do it without a second thought. Then try to go for 5 pages, Then 7, Then 10, and so on. Finally, you would reach your previous attempt to read for hours in a day but this time you would not procrastinate at all. One more thing, there is also something called a "Habit Tracker" that I learned from that book. Get a calendar, and circle the date if you did your habit you were going for that day. Try to get as long of a streak as possible. Missing one day is fine, but don't EVER miss 2 days in a row. IMPORTANT NOTE: You can circle it even if you just, let's say, read a paragraph from a book. Or just doing one pushup. Point is that you make yourself think the habit is easy to do, and you do it everyday.

This dude really just read me like a book. I never thought my perfectionism and 'I give up' behavior were linked, I always just thought it was weird since they're like opposites of each other. On one hand I want to complete something perfectly or I"ll feel terrible and worthless but then I also never feel like it'll be good enough so I just don't do anything or give up early on

“Perfectionism comes from shame” My whole life makes since now.

You know you've got a problem when you choke up as he says "Your worth is not defined by your accomplishments".

Great insights. I tell my kids “done is better than perfect” particularly when it comes to schoolwork. Getting 0% because you didn’t turn in an assignment really sets you back. When it comes to art and music, the process can be the reward. Imperfections are often interesting and beautiful. But if you’re a perfectionist, it’s tough to change your mindset. I really enjoyed your video!

So needed to hear this as a chronic perfectionist. I've wasted years turning ideas over and over in my head when I could have been acting on them. Such a waste... can't do that anymore.

I’ve always heard “everything worth doing is worth doing poorly” because even attempting it is better than never starting

“The world isn’t going to hate you for making something less than perfect” that HIT

“perfectionism is not the way, it’s in the way” I REALLY NEEDED TO HEAR THIS SO MUCH THANK U😭😭❤️

“Your body of work is only as great as the projects you finish.” I both appreciate and hate you. 😂❤️

I recently heard “ you’re not a procrastinator, you have developed the HABIT of procrastination.” That was my a-ha moment !! Because I know I can change a habit.

As an artist: "Is it 70% perfect?" "...No..." "Is it 70% a failure?" "...No... :)"

As someone trying to replace my addiction to drugs with an addiction to art, you are my favorite channel. I have felt like every artist on KZfaq expresses their daily life as a calm artistic bubble, while you discuss actual challenges many others may have gone through and empathize greatly. You’re awesome bro.

"Your body of work is only as good as the projects you finish." Holy crap I felt that! Thank you for another clearly explained, paradigm shifting, really helpful video.

I literally stopped editing the video I've been struggling with for the past 4 weeks to watch this video about how to stop procrastinating.

"Laziness is not the cause of procrastination. Fear of failure is." I've known this in my bones for a few years, but it's so hard to get past that struggle. I try to tell myself that it doesn't matter what I'm doing or why, so long as I'm doing it. An eye-opening video. Thank you for your thoughts.

The Quantity leads to Quality thing...I've never looked at it from that perspective! Eye-opening! Really love your channel and just pre-ordered the book, can't wait to get it - even though I would rather have an audio book, cause I love the Aussie accent. :D

I’ve seen perfectionism take over myself and in other people as well. When I was younger I’ve never thought about perfectionism being a bad thing except it has caused so much stress for me in the past before. Wanting to get the highest grades in the class. A perfect test score. It drove me crazy. 🙁

This made me think of a joke my dad would always tell me if I was getting too hard on myself: what do you call someone who graduated medical school last in their class? ... Doctor

My mom always taught me: don’t do anything if you can’t do it well Huh, I wonder why I suffer with procrastination and perfectionism?...

Your videos are telling me basic stuff I feel I could’ve learned in elementary school but here I am sitting 20 years later feeling enlightened af by your basic 70% rule.

Goddamn, man. I recognized myself in each and every points you made. Being like this is nothing but torture and self-disappointment. This video helps a lot, thank you. I drew a big 75 on a piece of paper and I put it on the wall where I can see it at all times. I'll try to live with this as my new motto (well, at least 75% of the time).

I considered just adding this video to my "watch later" list to procrastinate watching it, but I'm glad I didn't!

I can't stop crying. I couldn't have found this at a more fitting time. I've managed to procrastinate for years in something I'm extremely passionate about... And when he said that procrastination comes from shame and that my work is not my worth something kinda broke inside of me... I was gonna write a longer story for this but who cares in the end... This just hit too hard

You probably don’t read too many of your comments on your old videos anymore, but on the off chance you do see this, I just wanted to say, as a random fellow human walking around and living on the other side of the planet, YOU’RE A TREASURE! You put into words so many of the things I struggle with and many of your suggestions and insights feel like the long lost keys to parts of my mind that I’ve long since given up on trying to unlock. The work you’re doing here is SO important and I want to thank you for all the effort and care you put into these videos. It means so much more than you could ever possibly imagine. Thank you!

5:28 "There's probably a more efficient way..." spoken like a perfectionist :P

THE 70% RULE WORKED. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT. I HAD TO WRITE AN ESSAY, AND I WANTED TO WRITE THE BEST EVER ESSAY BUT I COULDN'T GET STARTED. THE 70% RULE WORKED.

I almost put this video in my "watch later" playlist, then I realized...

The most powerful thing I have done around my perfectionism is shifting my mindset. Instead of viewing the track in my head that always pointing out my mistakes as bad, it's the helpful voice in my head that tells me how I can improve. From that view, I have a better ability than most to learn from my project, work, experience, whatever. Now, my "perfectionism" is a strength.

I identify with the perfect blank piece of paper so much. I have a stack of unused notebooks almost as high as my knee because they're too nice for my invaluable thoughts. I'm still a teenager (just) and I hate to imagine where I'll be in a couple of years if I don't start using them. Thanks for tackling this topic in a more meaningful way then 'just start'

A quick phrase I tell myself when I think myself into a corner: *Perfectionism kills joy*

"Your body of work is only as good as the projects you FINISH" - I printed this out and put it up on my wall where I work. Thank you!

This is exactly what I've been needing to hear... Thank you very much!

I feel like most artists suffer from either perfectionism or imposter syndrome. Amanda Palmer’s book The Art of Asking helped me with imposter syndrome, she calls I the fraud police. Amazing book. Great video, I appreciate your motivation to help motivate others. Inspiring people is an act of service, I hope everyone benefits from.

My rule is "aim to learn something instead of perfection" when doing my own thing. Learning can only happen when making mistakes. Just think Art is not Surgery.

"your body of work is defined by the projects you finish" damn that's going on a sticky note in front of my desk thanks man

You understand me more than most people in my life ever have! I spend far too long deliberating over every decision in my life, which really zaps my leisure time (that I don't allow myself to have unless I finish those ToDo's). The hardest part is that even if I spend far too many hours researching to make a decision or tweaking what I wrote, when the result is imperfect I berate myself for not taking more time to make a better choice... when in reality, the other choices were just as (if not more) flawed.

Bought your book. Not because I needed it, but I wanted to support your channel and your work. Please dont't stop. Thx !

I used to wonder why and how the hell anyone could take on inktober variations because the thought of making a Good Drawing every day for a MONTH was crazy. I usually spend at least 2 hours a day for 4 days making just one drawing, and even that doesn't turn out very good. It seemed like the most inefficient thing ever. Who knew the solution was to just make more drawings even if they're bad.

I feel like I'm a perfectionist who makes absolutely crap work. I put in so much effort and at the end I'm like 😐can't even look at it

This hit me hard. I've been told that I'm "too" academic, "too" detail oriented, "too" perfect. And my response was "Is that even a problem?".

Diminishing returns - a concept that I had to learn the hard way, but it is key to know that not every next effort will bring the same results. The distinctions of diminishing-returns efforts only come to light when the competition is isolated to the top performers.

The wall behind him is a visual proof of him being a perfectionist. The wall, supposedly dotted randomly, yet when you pay attention, you see every color is carefully placed perfectly like different gas molecules perfectly diffused in air.

This is a very important lesson alot of artists still have to learn.

I've been creatively blocking myself due to my perfectionism (in recent years). This video was a great pick me up. Thank you!

I realized that the drawings I made some months ago actually look pretty damn good for someone who didn’t draw for years. I used to draw in my teenage years and stopped at 19. But back to the point, when we go back to our drawings after some time has passed we realized that what we thought was “horrible art” actually isn’t that horrible! That’s why it is good to look from a far sometimes so you don’t lose track of your progress. Just keep moving, it will eventually get better!

when you said : aim for 70% I felt shook, I can't imagine that, it sounds so mediocre and so complacent and so... repulsive. I know I'll try it because 70% perfect, is better than 100% unhappy, or 0% accomplished, that's how 4 decades of my life have gone. But it hurts.

I'm like : How to make the 70% perfectly? 🥴

I realize that I can work easily with watercolors, because the imperfections/mistakes are part of the beauty of it.

I started aiming for 80% several years ago (that's 80% out of 110% lol ). A big moment of realization for me was when I drew what I considered a sloppy fox and my 3-year-old could correctly identified it for what it was. That became my yardstick. If I can communicate well enough for a toddler to understand my work, it stops being a "me" problem if someone doesn't get it. xD Great video, very succinct, which it had seen it 30 years ago! lol

Let's not forget that when you keep working on a project to fix all the 'imperfections' you see, you often end up ruining it... :(

only three minutes in and 'your worth is not determined by what you accomplish' shook me to my core wew we're in for some trauma unpacking today fellas

Thank you for reminding me creativity is beautiful at 70%

I know this is an old video and you're not likely to see this, but this is EXACTLY what I needed to hear right now. Thank you for that.

I really needed this. I failed my whole semester all because I was trying to perfect them to the tea and I ended up missing the submission date all coz I was so caught up in perfecting my assignments. Thank goodness I have a chance to redeem myself before the academic year starts in Feb to resubmit those assignments. I'm definitely going to remember the 70% rule. thank you =)

Funny how this applies to other things in life too; I have real bad anxiety to go outside and do certain stuff (groceries, picking up my meds, go to appointments etc) and because I was too scared to do it myself (and I was afraid to fail) I always let someone else do it.. But today, for the first time in weeks (and with a calming tablet lol) Ive managed to pick up my own meds ( my mom drove me there since Im not alowed to drive with those meds) at first I was so frustrated it didn't go "perfect" since I was shaking and still really nervous whilst being there.. but after I came home my sister showed me this video and I realised I actually did really well; it was easily over 70%, so why should I be disappointed?? Im so happy I managed to go outside, go all the way to the pharmasist and even picked up my own meds.. this way of thinking really helps with the healing proces and makes me realise I shouldnt be so hard on myself if it didn't go 100%.. I will always have bad days.. but I should be really proud of myself when I achive something hard, even if it didn't go "perfect".. and remember those better days Edit: I never expected so many kind reactions.. thank you all so much! :)

Perfectionism and procrastination belong in the same discussion. Very helpful, thanks

Thank you so much for this. I have recently realised I am a perfectionist and it has stopped me from starting or continuing with so many projects in my life. I have not drawn for over 20 years, because I was scared of not being “perfect”. A few weeks ago I started to draw and restarted the same picture 4 times! I watched your video and it made me look at myself and my work in a different light. Thanks to you, I finally sat down, started and finished a picture. It’s not perfect by any means but it’s finished and I have learned so much about where I need to improve. For the first time I am proud of something that isn’t perfect and it’s encouraged me to continue.

I know it sounds dumb, but im kinda afraid of giving up on my perfectionism... im scared of becoming too forgiving and lazy with myself and my work. I know it doesnt work like that, but it just the fear of the kind of failure and shame that perfectionism is protecting me from. It makes no sense, and i hate it, maybe the shame and hate will slowly melt away with years

'understanding that perfectionism comes from shame'. Had to pause and go back to digest it properly. You said it so fast, like it's so obvious... but honestly that's an insane insight.

My alcoholic narcissistic parents literally told me all the time that "You shouldn't even try if there is any chance of failure." No matter how hard I tried, nothing was ever good enough for them. It's bad enough if the parents love isn't unconditional but I never received even conditional love so I learned not to even try anymore. It took me a long time to realize that my family is super toxic and that they literally poisoned my thoughts and my whole being from the day I was born. It takes a lot of repetition and time to learn away from the bad programming and brainwashing. The brain with the hammer pictures it perfectly. But it is possible! I just want to remind everyone that no one is born as a perfectionist or doubting and hating themselves. It is something that is taught to you by your family, surroundings and society. The demanding and mean inner voice of the perfectionist isn't yours! I hope this helps even a one person in some way. Thank you Struthless for the amazing quotes, I will use them to replace the bad old ones in my head. Love to you all 💗

This was so helpful. I've been crippled with anxiety, perfectionism and now at 52 and realizing after binging loads of videos that I must have ADHD...which explains so much. Now trying to get the tools to work around/with it so that I can have the life I've always wanted, was elusive, and have worked like like mad to get but without results. Thank you so much!!

'Perfectionism comes from shame'... I had such a profound f*ck-me-aha! moment that I had to step away from my computer and smoke 70% of a cigarette.

I signed up to this channel for some sweet dank artwork. But what I got was the most valuable self help class my mental health has ever attended.

I appreciate you mentioning the being sober struggle. I've never really connected the perfectionism struggle with the moderation struggle.

Why is it that every life story you've shared is 100% me? I'm glad you've come up with a solution, this way of living is nerve-wracking!

This hits deep. My parents always said don't ever do anything "half ass" so my mind won't let me get away with doing anything without being extremely thorough. It's time consuming and exhausting and makes me not even wanna START anything cuz I know perfection isn't possible and I won't be happy with it if it isn't so....its definitely a burden. Thanks man, this is the clarity I've been begging for.

Perfectionism comes from shame. Mind blown. I was today years old when I finally learned this.

I learned that while dancing and using that old 60s song by Spiral Starecase, More Today Than Yesterday, as advice. 🎶I love you more today than yesterday, but not as much as tomorrow! I just replaced the words with I’ll do this more today than yesterday but not as much as tomorrow. And no matter how awkward or clumsy I felt on Monday, by Friday I was doing better . That incremental improvement went a long way to stopping pointless perfectionism in others areas of my life. Thank you Spiral Starecase! Both of my parent were hypercritical judgemental verbal abusers so that attitude helped me heal the gaslit shame my parents emotional abuse caused. Really abusively hypercritical, my father once found a ridiculous and petty reason to complain about a math test that I got a 100% on. Math was my worst subject and I was so proud of that test but he found something to complain about .

i searched "how to stop being a perfectionist" , not actually knowing that i was such a a huge perfectionist but knowing that it was def holding me back for so many years, like yk procrastination and stuffs like not starting a task until extremely sure of it, not taking shot at opportunities cause not completely ready and feel insecure and unworthy. damn........and also moving to another task when the current one starts to get messy or starts to annoy me .....damn.............i am so thankful that i found a problem within me. that means i can now work on towards solving this. life! always getting to know more and more about myself and the world

Dude, you’ve changed my life. I mean unironically not just this video but your channel in general, it’s helping me so much. You have this way of explaining things thats just [chef’s kiss] its simple its straight to the point it’s structured and it just speaks to me. I found your channel not too long ago actually, I guess at the right time in my life where I’m done feeling like shit and being shitty and I’m also done pretending it’ll get better by itself eventually and I should just abuse substances to endure life in the meantime, and I feel like you’ve given me some tools to actually do something about it. I dont wanna be like dauntingly putting responsibilities on you or anything from this comment, it’s just that the level headedness and honesty you put in here is reaching me somewhere deep, as a fellow perfectionist procrastinating artist with a loaded past and a complex about a lack of hair. Also the prod and post prod here is amazing yo the art the pacing the music the script damn. keep doing what your doing, for yourself most importantly, and for the people like me you’re reaching, cause I swear your advice has helped me so much in understanding what I’ve been doing wrong, what really it is I’m trying to do, and how I should go about it. also I’ve typed probably 20 comments on your vids in the past and idk if I’ve even posted one cause it’s never The Perfect Comment encapsulating everything I mean with the perfect intonation, but damn it you’re right if I want to get a message delivered I gotta actually send it even if its just 70% of the perfect concept I have in mind.

"Fear of tainting a pristine page." A KINDRED SPIRIT!!!

Wow. I love the idea that doing 70% more frequently grows your capabilities. And that 70% of increased capabilities is more than 95% of that one project you keep working on.

You seem so ticked off with your own good advice, and it's SO funny!!! It really drives home how genuine the advice really is LOL.

Brilliant! You said once "Thinking about it is NOT the same as doing it!" That phrase has often helped me reason through my perfectionism-fueled-procrastination. I brought up perfectionism yesterday in a video - and this really is timely for me. Thank you!

I was actually really anxious to click on this video in case I couldn't watch it perfectly enough. I'm going to try and persevere and watch it through. I normally cut experiences off early from fear, including watching videos. I'm worried about writing this comment for the same reason. But here I go, I think it's good enough.

"Your work is not your worth." I had no idea how much I needed to hear those words until I heard them.

yo, the way you explain things is literally... fucking brilliant. every single video of yours that i've watched literally leaves me with that "holy shit i finally understand" feeling. you literally out here being a ray of shining hope for people just by living your best life. and thats what im trying to do, be my best self so i can spread the vibes. love what your doing man, seriously i cant thank you enough for sharing these nuggets of gold. in a way that very few motivational speakers can convey.

I’m almost 60. I wish I could have watched this video 40 years ago!

- "Goes to a new restaurant after studying the menu online for at least 30min" "After eating, thinks that maybe I should've chosen dish X" - "Spends hours browsing for art supplies and reading reviews because you want the best supplies" - "Spends hours on producing a drawing, scans it in and edits it digitally for hours, prints it out and traces it onto the chosen paper and then spends hours on re-drawing it and refining it" "Has at least 2-5 drafts of the same drawing" List goes on. Problem is, I don't really know what causes my perfectionism. My mum is kind of the same way. It doesn't reflect so heavily on day-to-day life but when it comes to creating something or relationships with other people, we tend to have very high standards. It's exhausting.

Today i caught myself saying: Is it at least 70 procent?! The answer was yes, and that gave so much peace!! Thank you!!

Thank you so very much for your well- thought and heart-felt presentation, Brother.

I always received comfort knowing that DaVinci never finished a piece. 😂

I needed to watch this so much. I'm in the worst writer's block I've ever had. Even though I write so much, every paper and essay I present always receives so many compliments, but every single time I have to write something from scratch it gives me so much anxiety that I just can't do it. I feel so ashamed to even imagine letting someone read it, that I keep creating excuses to just never start. But today, with your video, I said to myself "omg, just sit down and fucking write something, not thinking about it, not judging, just write", and that's what I did and it worked :)

You're awesome man. Just sat through 3 of your videos & they're exactly what I needed. Thanks so much.

Thank you Struthless for this video! I feel like I've needed to hear this for way too long. I love the quality of your videos and the research that goes into them, it makes it such a pleasure to learn and grow. Thank you for sharing your personal experiences and struggles to help everyone relate and find hope to be better and do better. Your videos do that for me. 🙏🏻

These videos are actually saving my life. I’ve been binging them for the past 24 hours after I came to KZfaq to escape suicidal thoughts. Bro. Honestly, I know your videos are technically about art (of which I try to do also), but the whole time I’m watching I’m also associating it with my everyday life. This is magic. Sending you so much love for giving me such valuable tools to live by. 🤍

"If your fidelity for perfection is too high, you'll never get anything done" - David Foster Wallace

this video is seriously everything I needed to hear thank you

Suga from BTS once said (and this is a translation): "You can only evaluate something once you look back when it's over." I've started noticing this recently too, where I need to take a few days away from a project when I feel like it's done or when I get frustrated that it's not going great, and when I come back to it, I often realise that it's not as bad as I thought. Or I see where the problems are more clearly. But taking that time away is so hard. And just getting started is hard too, but it's something you have to practice (me @ myself here too). I like the 70% rule. It takes away a lot of pressure if you can commit to it.

I've struggled with this for a short period of time. And according to your logic, I'm actually having a 1% rule. I just start whatever I have on my mind and go from there. I don't try to assess if it's a good idea and I consider the whole process to be a huge mess anyway, that I try to save somehow. As you said yourself, starting is the hardest. So by having no expectations before starting, you can't mess up, as you already expect to mess up (does that make sense?) My motto is "don't think, just do and critically assess when it's done"

Your content is so relatable. Thank you and keep up the great work.

I’m so glad I found your videos! Just wanted to let you know you’re doing an amazing job and your videos have been helping me more than any therapy in real life 🥺 Thank you and keep up the good work~ ☺️

I've heard of the 80/20 rule before. It's about the fact that 80% of the work costs 20% of the energy and the last 20% to make it perfect will cost you 80% of your energy. Now, I'm an absolute perfectionist and haven't taken these thoughts by hart yet. But I'm gonna try to remind myself of this more. Thanks

This video is such a relief for anxious people like me that tend to feel overwhelmed easily.

In 10 minutes you walked me through my self destructive perfectionism better than my therapist

This is the single greatest piece of advice ive gotten from youtube, THANK U

this reminds me of when i was in middle school and the highest score my art teacher would give was a 99, and i’d get so upset and i asked her why she always gave 99’s and she said because we need to learn even if you try your hardest or follow all the instructions there’s no such thing as perfection and there will always be something to pick apart, but that doesn’t mean it’s not still good