“Don’t have any concern of perfection—you’ll by no means attain it.” ~Salvador Dalí
We reside in a world that worships polish.
Excellent pictures on Instagram. Seamless podcasts with no awkward pauses. Articles that learn like they’ve handed by way of a dozen editors.
And now, with AI instruments that may produce mistake-free writing in seconds, the bar feels even greater. Machines can generate flawless sentences, good grammar, and glossy concepts on demand. In the meantime, I’m over right here second-guessing a paragraph, rewriting the identical sentence six other ways, and nonetheless questioning if “Finest” or “Warmly” is the much less awkward electronic mail sign-off.
It’s simple to really feel like our messy, human work doesn’t measure up.
I’ve fallen into that entice loads of instances. I’ve delayed publishing as a result of “it’s not prepared.” I’ve rerecorded podcasts as a result of I came upon a phrase. I’ve tweaked and reformatted issues nobody else would even discover.
Perfectionism whispers: If it isn’t flawless, don’t share it.
However over time, I’ve discovered one thing else: imperfection isn’t a legal responsibility. It’s the entire level.
A Desk Filled with Flaws
Among the best classes I’ve ever discovered about imperfection got here not from writing or expertise, however from woodworking.
A couple of decade in the past, I made a decision to construct a eating desk. I spent hours measuring, chopping, sanding, and marking. I needed it to be good.
However right here’s the reality about woodworking: nothing ever seems good. Ever.
That desk appears strong from throughout the room. However should you step nearer, you’ll discover the issues. The board I mismeasured by 1 / 4 inch. The nook I over-sanded. The stain that didn’t set evenly.
At first, I noticed these flaws as failures. Proof that I wasn’t expert sufficient, affected person sufficient, or cautious sufficient.
However then one thing shocking occurred. My spouse walked into the room, noticed the completed desk, and stated she liked it. She didn’t see the errors. She noticed one thing that had been made with love and care.
And slowly, I started to see it that means, too.
That desk isn’t simply furnishings. It’s proof of effort, course of, and persistence. It carries my fingerprints, my sweat, and my imperfect humanity.
And right here’s the kicker: it’s far more fulfilling than something mass-produced or manufactured as machine-perfect.
Why Imperfection Connects Us
That desk taught me one thing AI by no means may: flaws inform a narrative.
Machines can produce flawless outputs, however they’ll’t create that means. They’ll’t replicate the delight of sanding wooden with your personal palms or the laughter round a desk that wobbled for the primary month.
Imperfections are what make one thing ours. They carry our fingerprints, quirks, and lived experiences.
In distinction, perfection is sterile. It may be spectacular, but it surely hardly ever feels alive.
Take into consideration the issues that transfer us most—a good friend’s susceptible story, amusing that turns right into a snort, a chat the place the speaker loses their practice of thought however recovers with honesty. When was the final time you felt closest to somebody? Chances are high, it wasn’t once they had been polished, it was once they had been actual. These moments join us exactly as a result of they’re imperfect.
They remind us we’re not alone in our flaws.
The AI Distinction
AI dazzles us as a result of it by no means stutters. It by no means doubts. It by no means sends a clumsy textual content or spills espresso on its keyboard. AI can do flawless. However flawless isn’t the identical as significant.
However right here’s what it doesn’t do:
- It doesn’t really feel the combo of delight and embarrassment in displaying somebody your wobbly desk.
- It doesn’t perceive the enjoyment of cooking a meal that didn’t go precisely to plan.
- It doesn’t know what it’s wish to hit “publish” whereas your abdomen churns with nerves, solely to get a message later that claims, “This made me really feel much less alone.”
Flawlessness may be a machine’s energy. However humanity is ours.
The very issues I used to attempt to conceal—the quirks, the tough edges, the imperfections—are the issues that make my work value sharing.
A Totally different Sort of Readiness
I used to assume I wanted to attend till one thing was “prepared.” The weblog put up polished excellent. The podcast that’s completely edited. The message refined till it couldn’t probably be criticized.
However I’ve discovered that readiness is a mirage. It’s typically simply perfectionism in disguise.
The reality is, many of the issues that resonated most with folks—my most-downloaded podcast episode, the articles that readers emailed me about months later—had been those I nearly didn’t share. Those that felt too messy, too susceptible, too actual.
And but, these are those folks stated, “That is precisely what I wanted to listen to.”
Not the flawless ones. The human ones.
How We Can Embrace Imperfection
I’m not saying it’s simple. Perfectionism is sneaky. It wears the disguise of “excessive requirements” or “being thorough.”
Right here’s what I’ve discovered helps me. Not guidelines, however reminders I hold returning to:
Share earlier than you’re feeling prepared.If it feels 80% adequate, launch it. The final 20% is usually simply countless sharpening.
Reframe errors as tales.My desk’s flaws? Now they’re dialog starters. What errors of yours would possibly carry that means, too?
Discover the place imperfection builds connection.The issues that make folks really feel nearer to you often aren’t the shiny elements. They’re the sincere ones.
The Greater Image
We reside in a tradition obsessive about velocity, optimization, and polish. AI accelerates that strain. It tempts us to compete on machine phrases: flawless, prompt, infinite.
However that’s not the sport we’re meant to play.
Our benefit—our solely actual benefit—is that we’re human. We carry nuance, empathy, humor, vulnerability, and lived expertise.
Robots don’t snicker till they snort. They don’t ugly cry throughout Pixar motion pictures. They don’t mismeasure wooden or overlook to make use of the wooden glue and construct a desk that their companion loves anyway.
You do. I do. That’s the purpose.
So possibly we don’t must sand down each tough edge. Maybe we don’t want to cover each flaw.
As a result of when the world is flooded with flawless, machine-polished work, the imperfect, human issues will stand out.
And people are the issues folks will keep in mind.
About Chris Cage
Chris Cage is the creator of Nonetheless Human: Staying Sane, Productive, and Absolutely You within the Age of AI. He’s a product supervisor, author, and psychological well being advocate. He writes at The Psychological Lens weblog and hosts the podcast By the Psychological Lens, the place he explores the intersection of productiveness, psychological well-being, and expertise. Study extra and subscribe to the e-newsletter at TheMentalLens.com. You can even observe Chris on Instagram, Goodreads, and Amazon.