How I'm learning to create from the messy middle
Starting with writing this post before I've even fully baked out an idea of what to say.
The idea of presenting my ideas, let alone my work, from the “messy middle” sends my nervous system straight into shutdown mode. As a creative who has spent 12+ years working for global corporate brands and high-vis agencies, that entire concept sounds insane. Present work that’s undone, unpolished? Showcase half-baked ideas? Omg, never.
When you’re working with companies that are on a global stage, you strive for perfection. Anything less than somehow makes you feel unrefined, inexperienced, and easily replaceable. But that’s not really what real life is like, is it?
Recently, my business coach tasked me with letting go of the need for everything to feel figured out, final, polished and just take the leap. But at the edge, I hovered in stillness. I was frozen in place, peering at my dreams, desires—all the beautiful possibilities of the things I could bring into this world—and I just couldn’t cross over. Sending out something before it feels fully done feels like a wild thing to do when you’ve been trained for over a decade that your future depends on you not doing that.
But when it comes to your creative work, waiting for perfection doesn’t push you forward. And if you spend too much time chipping away at it, making those tiny little tweaks, trying to sculpt your creation into a masterpiece before you send it out into the world, you might get stuck there forever.
Now I’m not telling you to not put care into everything you do. I am merely suggesting that sometimes you just gotta take that leap. Sometimes it will never be perfect. Sometimes creative work truly is about the journey and not the destination. And sometimes you’ll never know until you try.
It’s hard for those of us who are wired a little anxiously to free-fall into the abyss. But here’s how you get there slowly. (Or at least how I am doing it.)
Take baby steps. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was great creative work. You don’t need to rush the process, take time to relish it. When you’re used to the stress of tight deadlines and fire drills, this one can take some practice.
Accept that you are human. In fact, embrace it. We’re living in an unprecedented world where robots are literally taking over, but we’re still human. We make mistakes. Our humanity—our flaws, our missteps, our imperfections—is what makes us not only unique but also relatable.
Take your audience along for the ride. The more open, honest conversations you have with peers and other creatives around you, you’ll realize…we’re all on a journey. We’re all going through it. No one actually has it all figured out. What people crave most is to feel like they’re not alone. And when you create from the messy middle, flaws and all, you create connection.
Opt for authenticity over perfection. Raw is real. People can’t really relate to overly polished. Because no matter how hard you may try to will it, life is messy.
Surrender. You can’t control the outcome. Not really. All you can do is create from a place that feels authentic to you and release it. Sometimes the art isn’t the output, but the process. And that is a-okay.