The Done Manifesto for the Digital Scrapper—Part 8

with 6 Comments

by Jen White

Welcome to Part 8 of a series entitled The Done Manifesto for Digital Scrappers. If you are just now joining, I’d encourage you to start from the beginning.

Sometimes a girl has time to sit and play and be ultra crafty. Then there are times when a girl just has to get things DONE. The Done Manifesto for Digital Scrappers is for those times.

If you are interested in just getting it DONE, this series is for you.

We’ve been talking about the Done Manifesto by Bre Pettis. It’s been quoted as being “a set of working rules based on a sense of urgency.” We are working together as a team and a community to see how this “sense of urgency” could be applied to our craft of digital scrapbooking by taking a look at one “Done rule” per week and relating it to our world. This week we are focusing on Mr. Pettis’ Rule #8. 

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Done Manifesto #8: Laugh at perfection. It’s boring and keeps you from being done.

There really are a dozen different bunny trails we could go down in relation to perfectionism. But, for Rule #8, I want to focus on this idea of “boring.” It intrigues me, because “boring” is the LAST thing I want to be accused of (wink). Let’s think about it.

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The Done Manifesto for Digital Scrappers Rule #8.
Perfectionism is boring and keeps you from getting things done.

Ze Frank said, “Perfectionism may look good in his shiny shoes, but [he’s boring] and no one invites him to their pool party.” 

Perfectionism is no fun. It’s a drag for those around you. And, if you are honest with yourself, perfectionism is a drag for you too, isn’t it?

Here’s how perfectionism typically rears its ugly head in my world:

I start a creative project—such as a scrapbook page or blog post—and I fairly quickly get all the main parts in place. It’s pretty decent (if I do say so myself). But then, that crazy part of my brain (a.k.a. perfectionism) kicks in, and I start to nit pick. I change to a different flower on my scrapbook page, which really is no better than the first. Or, I change a few words around in my blog post, which probably just made things less clear. In fact, I’m doing that right now. It’s a disease! I can’t stop! I’m driving myself crazy!

Before long, I find myself staring at my monitor, my eyes long since glazed over, and it’s been a total waste of time. Had I not gone down the road to perfection, I would have gotten a lot more work done . . . or at the very least, I would have folded another load of laundry. (Reference Rule #5.)

Now, you may argue that there is a place for “perfect” in scrapbooking. And, you may be right. It can be inserted as a healthy part of the creative process. But, if our goal in this project is to get things DONE, perfectionism really has no seat on the bus.

Getting back to the issue of boring, try this scenario on for size:

• I create a scrapbooking tutorial complete with a beautiful layout (which I completed in a glazed over state).
• 500 scrapbookers complete the tutorial “perfectly”—as in, their tutorial results and page are exactly like mine.
• I comment on each and every result, saying, “Perfect!”

See where I’m going? I’m bored to tears! I don’t want perfect. As an instructor, I want participation. I want to see you be adventurous and think outside the box. I want you to be creative.

Ok. I’m gonna have to call this one done! Tell me what you think about Rule #8. 

Rule #1  |  Rule #2  |  Rule #3  |  Rule #4  |  Rule #5  |  Rule #6  |  Rule #7  |
Rule #8

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jenwhite-48x48Author: Jen White | jen@digitalscrapper.com
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6 Responses

  1. Linda
    | Reply

    I have just read all of your “8 rules.” They couldn’t have come at a better time. I am in the process of making
    scrapbooks for my 3 daughters. My plan is from birth through college graduation. (My oldest is 35 and youngest is 28). I have very old, scratched, blurry photos, which I have tried to scrapbook perfectly.
    I have come to the conclusion that I just need to get them done. Thank you for clarifying things for me. I don’t need them to be perfect, just scrapbooked! Thank you.

  2. Terri
    | Reply

    Ohhhhhhhhhh, perfectionism is a slippery slope. Even with templates I have to search for the perfect template, then the perfect paper, then the perfect photos, then the perfect embellishments, then the perfect way to put the embellishments on the page. YIKES. no wonder I don’t get anything done. It helps to have other people that understand the perfectionism problem remind me “forget perfect.” Thanks for the fun ideas Jen

  3. JobaScraps
    | Reply

    I commented on one of the other Manifesto articles but somehow lost my musings and didn’t have the heart to re submit. Will try again today. Once upon a long time ago I read some where that one way to tell an authenic ,original work of art was to look for the flaw. . That was how you could tell the art was not manufactured on some assembly line. That has always been my guide: forget about “perfectionism”, Be free to express myself flaws and all.

  4. Charc-1944
    | Reply

    I quickly learned not to let that word even come to mind when crafting — the less perfect, the better — I just let my mind wander, and so let the personal expression come through. I remember all the little non-fabric items “Gram” thoughtfully worked into her quilts – they gave us so much insight into who she was! If I can add, I’m all new to digital scrapbooking, and so happy your site caught my eye … what a “perfect” find!

  5. Donna
    | Reply

    I love this series!

  6. Lynphd
    | Reply

    I have been “boring,” my whole life. That’s what melancholy temperaments are. We can’t do the slightest thing without it being perfect. Except, in my case, my scrapbook pages. I look at everyone’s pages and I realize that my style is wacky with mismatched papers, crazy embellishments, no titles, very little journaling–nothing that anyone would think that someone who had been doing this for many, many years would have gotten over all of these “wrongs.” My albums are nothing but big smash books–and I like it that way. Who would have thought that a melancholy would be so “messy,” in this creative world?

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