Writers have a high tendency to be perfectionists because they cannot let quality slip off their hands. Mediocrity is no-no for writers who aim to inform, entertain and satisfy their readers. They have target audiences that rely on their content or story, and good writers cannot seem to afford publishing pieces that are less than excellent. This is even truer for writers who are not only writing for their profession but also for their passion.
Definitely, in any task given to you, you must do your best to achieve the best results. As a writer, you have goals to hit, but at the same time, you have deadlines to meet. High quality is your aim within the time you have. Regardless of whether you are an independent writer or a writer for a creative agency, you have time to chase and quality to intend. Just by imagining the process, you can feel the weighty pressure. All in all, plus the other daily demands of the job, writers like you face challenges, such as the writer’s block. It happens for so many reasons, and personally putting too much pressure on yourself does not help.
Make your daunting writing tasks breathable. Here are 6 reasons why you must not set too high expectations on your writing.
1 – You will have a hard time starting to write.
Before you jump off the platform for ziplining, taking the first step or the jump is always the most knee-weakening. You enjoy the whole zipline ride, and you forget how high you are flying above the ground. But earlier, your feet are frozen and do not want to move away from the floor. Indeed, the starting point is often the most difficult and most taxing level.
The same thing is true in writing. Typing the first word on your PC or writing it on paper is not very easy. You are starting from a clean slate, and it’s like you are afraid to put some prints or dirt on it.
Putting very high standards for yourself as a writer will not help. In fact, it will make your job harder. You will have a more burdensome time starting to write. Instead of filling your piece with useful information, you are stuck at the opening. This causes you to fail in productivity and progress. Your mental energy might immediately go low if you spend too much time trying to make a flawless post from the very beginning.
2 – You will struggle appreciating your work.
Be kind and patient to yourself. It’s you who will do that best for yourself. Be proud of what you create, and always learn from it.
Laying unreasonably high standards for your writing skills do not produce those good things. Rather, it leads to being frequently frustrated and displeased. Sadly, you will struggle appreciating your work. You keep trying to achieve what you think is “perfect”, but that mindset just ruins a good perspective.
Because of those high expectations from your writing abilities, you abandon the good aspects of your skills and the impressive parts of your piece. If there’s someone who should be proud of you, it must be first and foremost you.
3 – You might often be dissatisfied with others’ work.
Say you are working in a creative agency as a senior writer or editor. Fixing sky-high expectations from people you handle will make your job difficult and their job distressing. Why? Because setting such bars might cause you to often be dissatisfied with others’ work. You might be too confident that nobody can surpass your writing skills, and so, you always tend to find fault in others’ efforts.
This wrecks your relationship with your work circle as you put unnecessary pressure and fright over the lives of those who just want to do their job well.
4 – Enjoying the process will be difficult.
You are excessively concentrating on the pie in the sky. While failing to relish the experience, you just keep on attempting to arrive at your prize. Whilst others are having a hard but fulfilling time and are learning, you are having difficulty enjoying the process.
Writing is made of a whole process that ensures every output meets its aim. Yes, you want to always bag noteworthy content, but be rational. Do not imprison yourself in the idea of perfect writing and perfect products. Give yourself freedom to breathe and enjoy the topics you are writing about, without strain.
Make it a meaningful writing journey and not a dreadful one.
5 – You might get frequently burned out.
This is one of the common consequences of voluntarily carrying so much load on your back. You might get recurrently burned out. This might come as the writer’s block, wherein you lose your motivation to write. Your fervor for your craft dwindles, and sometimes, it feels so distant. There’s nothing you can draw inspiration from. No enthusiasm. Zero fire. No vigor.
Setting terribly high expectations on your own writing will keep you overthinking and overdoing your task. It saps your energy out until you feel mentally drained. Your emotions are most likely affected as well. It’s more than mere laziness because burnouts can last long and have huge effects on your work performance.
Do not beat yourself up. Overcome those burnouts not by forcing yourself to write and write but by taking a break. When you get back, do not put those towery expectations back in operation. Take care of your mental wellness while you aim to work nicely. Rest when you must.
TAKE IT EASY
While you aim for exceptional quality in your writing, do not forget to exercise balance. Care for your work, and care for your well-being. Setting overly high expectations towards your own writing skills can cause you to get lost in the process and harm your mental and emotional wellness.
Especially when you know you are not in a good state to write, do not beat yourself up for ending up “only good” and not “the best”. The most important thing is that you are able to do your task well. Good is enough, and it’s not poor. You can produce something better, even the best, later on when you are already in a perfect condition.
Nobody’s going to understand you more than yourself, so instead of doubling the pressure caused by the industry, take it easy. Give yourself a pat on the back, regardless of whether the result is good, better, best or even none of the above. You know your capacity, as well as your limits, so set your expectations healthily and accordingly.