I've now re-written this opening line for a 3rd time.
Not creating is much easier than creating. Well, being in the "planning phase" is much easier than actually creating something. In the planning phase, there are no expectations, and as Dr. John Becker in the old CBS sitcom Becker said:
No expectations, no letdowns
If there are no expectations, you can't be let down. If there are no expectations of you, you can't let somebody else down. There is no danger in saying, "Yeah, I'm still working on that - brainstorming..." It's safe.
I know that I suffer from analysis paralysis. I have a very hard time pressing "SAVE & PUBLISH" on something (like this post) that I know could be better later.
But that's the irony.
If I always put off pushing the button, I will NEVER get better. If I never put my work out in the world, I will never improve. Improvement will come with practice, not merely thinking.
So, I am fighting against the urge to hold off. I know that this post - and everything I will ever write - is not going to be perfect. I could always take a little more time to tweak it. Fix this or that - but if I take that approach, nothing will ever get done, and I will never improve.
And that's what life is about, right? Improving.
And of course, a note from Marcus Aurelius:
Practice even what seems impossible.
The left hand is useless at almost everything, for lack of practice. But it guides the reins better than the right. From practice
Meditations 12.6
This is practice.