hi substack

jumping in

When starting something new, there's a lot of activation energy that goes into the first thing. Making your first tweet. Playing your first game of online chess against a real live human. Drawing your first picture.

If you're like me, the longer you think about doing something, the more pressure builds up, the harder it is to do. The more you think and learn, the more requirements build up. Knowing the “right” way to do something turns into a constraint.

For things like writing, chess, drawing, …, if you are a beginner, these kinds of constraints are simply bad. It's not hard to wake up literally years later and realize you've done absolutely nothing.

The sword that cuts through this is obvious to a lot of people but not to everyone. To me it wasn't obvious. Here it is: your first attempt doesn't have to be perfect. Your second attempt doesn't have to be perfect. Your hundredth attempt doesn't have to be perfect. Your thousand attempt doesn't have to be perfect.

danielle@danielleboccell

Reading poetry always reminds me that a poet is permitted to write thousands of terrible poems for one brilliant one.

6:23 PM · Feb 14, 2023

---

2 Reposts · 40 Likes

This is a great antidote to (at least my flavor of) perfectionism. And the great thing is that it's fully compatible with ambition and optimism. Each attempt can be a genuine shot at greatness, without being paralyzed by the chance of failure.

I know what it's like to be paralyzed by perfectionism, and how magical it is when the barrier dissolves. It happened for me with chess, with Twitter, with drawing. And all of these didn't start off blocked—when I was a kid, I would write and draw and play chess (slightly incorrectly on a wrongly-flipped board). But somewhere along the way they got twisted and stuck and I spent years not touching them. Reopening each has been a huge source of fun and joy and friendship.

But while short-form writing has been unlocked for me for a while now, long-form has still been a little stuck. So here's my letter to myself to get started.

And it can be a letter to you, too! If this resonates with you at all, I'd love to hear about it. And you could even write up your thoughts long-form and link it in the comments!

I get knocked down, but I get up again
You’re never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You’re never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You’re never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You’re never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You’re never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You’re never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You’re never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You’re never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You’re never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You’re never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You’re never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You’re never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You’re never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You’re never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You’re never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You’re never gonna keep me down

—Tubthumping by Chumbawamba