"Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life, and it is the main obstacle between you and a shitty first draft." - Anne Lamott

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Last week, I shared about powering through my resistance to the creative process. Once I manage that, I typically hit a second obstacle: the intimidating weight of the first stroke.

I become terrified of putting pen to paper and the risk of destroying what is an otherwise pristine and unadulterated page.

I have gotten better at facing this challenge since I began “morning pages” — a practice of writing at least three pages of longhand, stream-of-consciousness thinking every morning, popularized by Julia Cameron’s “The Artist’s Way.”

Through my morning pages, I’ve learned to write even if I have nothing to say. I literally write things like:

“Good morning, morning pages day 10. I really have nothing to say today. I slept well, but still feeling a bit tired and am sitting here watching the steam float up from my tea.”

Bored by my own writing, I sometimes catch myself daydreaming. But the moment I catch myself, I immediately write about it:

“I just caught myself daydreaming about…”

It's strange to catch yourself lost in thought about something trivial, then magnify that thought by writing about it. But it’s also an incredible way to release these kinds of thoughts onto a page and out of your head.

Similar to meditation, writing gives us a lens into our monkey-minds and perspective into the power and unpredictability of our thoughts.

I just keep writing and writing, getting all the surface-level clutter out, removing the blockages between my thoughts and my words.

Eventually ideas start flowing more naturally and I begin to write a bit quicker — I stop overthinking and I just get it all out.

Knowing that there’s plenty of time for editing and analytical thinking later, I focus on keeping that stream from my heart, to my mind, to my fingers, open and flowing.

 
Dave Radparvar
Co-Founder, Holstee

P.S. Looking for more creative inspiration? Check out this month’s Creativity Kit: