According to Winston Churchill, “The maxim ‘Nothing but perfection’ may be spelled ‘paralysis’.” As a recovering (and struggling) perfectionist myself, the English statesman’s words definitely makes sense. Perfectionists demand absolute flawlessness in all activities. Since I have focused more on making time to developing content for this blog and on social media, I have learned an important lesson. Consistency matters. Consistency allows one to produce more content regularly and in a fairly short time.
How Does Perfectionism Cripple?
The perfectionist in me used to (and still does on occasion) deliberate slowly and painstakingly over the perfect introduction to a post. Was it interesting enough? Was there that perfect balance between simple and complex sentences? Did I achieve the absolute lowest possible percentage for passive voice? My pernickety thoughts went on and on.
Is there a perfect way to write an article? Maybe. I honestly don’t know for certain. What I do know is that perfection 100% is not possible. Certainly, you will have those stellar posts that are simply gems. Flawless. But ultimately tough to replicate. Instead aiming to achieve perfection always, focus on excellence and be okay with your occasional (and sometimes rare) visit to perfection. Excellence is consistent. It is stable.
Practice Makes Excellence
Aristotle made the connection between excellence and consistency. He wrote, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” The following article Excellence vs Perfection details out more key differences between the two. A link to this resource will be listed in the Resources section as the end of this post. One thing that stood out to me was the excellence tends to focus on both the goal and the journey to achieve that goal, whereas perfectionism looks solely at the end result. I have had to adjust my mindset from perfectionism to excellence. The journey involves the process of learning. Excellence learns from failure. Perfectionism tries to avoid mistakes.
Failure is the first attempt in learning. Be excellent. Strive to create first-rate content. Just remember it need not be perfect. Perfection stymies creativity and growth. Excellence nurtures creativity and daily growth.
Helen Keller wrote, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” As a recent Linked user and creative individual, teamwork and content creation has been on the forefront of my mind. My recent post 3 Reasons Why Containing Creativity is Impossible, mentions a bit on the importance of working together with others on a creative project. I wrote, “Whenever I feel my creativity spirit drying up I look to the creative individuals to reignite my creativity.”
Creativity cannot happen in a vacuum. Creating something involves a community. Children are born from the union of mother and father. Houses are built with many individuals. Book projects involve the collaboration of the author, proofreaders, editors, publicists, and marketing teams. This post will focus on three distinct ways creativity and collaboration must be partners.
Humans are Social Creatures
According to the Greek philosopher Aristotle, “Man is by nature a social animal.” Even further back in history, the Bible recognized the importance of communion. God created Eve to be a partner for Adam. Since the inception of humanity, people need others for help and support.
The dictionary defines creativity as “the use of the imagination or original ideas, especially in the production of an artistic work.” Every major advancement in human history occurred via the creative endeavor. Such endeavors rarely occur in isolation. A creative idea ultimately serves not only the originator, but the betterment of society as a whole.
Creativity Gets Multiplied Never Divided
Tennis legend Althea Gibson stated, “No matter what accomplishments you make, somebody helped you.” Creativity never loses momentum. Collaborating on an idea or invention does not reduce creativity. Collaboration enhances creativity. More minds working together multiplies creativity.
Seeing collaboration occur professionally on LinkedIn or in the domestic setting of the family unit is exciting. Henry Ford spoke of working together in this way, “”Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success.” The interactions between entrepreneurs and family members displays the multiplication of creativity. For instance, my oldest son just got into Pokémon (the inner geek in me is so proud!) “Avila can be the ground Pokémon and we can be the Pokémon Masters!” declared my older two kids as they plotted their latest fictional safari. Seeing the joy glint from their eyes truly warms my heart. Sibling success— for the moment!
Marketplace of Ideas
The late innovator and former Apple CEO Steve Jobs declared, “Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something.” In a sense, great ideas are found instead of created. When asked about his legendary fiction world of Middle Earth, J.R.R. Tolkien shrugged off the idea of him being this creative genius. He merely “discovered” a world waiting to be found.
Collaboration and creativity create a marketplace of ideas. The information boom developed since the inception of the internet as not only made information more accessible to more people, but also allows more people to interact. Sharing information on social media is not only good, but essential moving forward. According to Bertrand Russell, “The only thing that will redeem mankind is cooperation.” The age of ruthless competition is over. Collaboration connects humanity. Collaboration leads to more minds reflecting on the major issues we face as a human race. Creativity flows in that marketplace of ideas.
Start Collaborating Now!
Never be afraid to ask for help to jump-start your creativity. Creativity does not exist in a singular mind. Every creative endeavor requires the close partnership of collaboration. The social aspect of humanity, multiplication of imagination, and great opportunity to participate in the marketplace of ideas show the necessity for cooperation in the modern world and creating content.
I am blessed to live in this information and collaborative time in human history. I challenge you to reach out to someone this month and collaborate on a project: a blog post, an article, podcast, or video. Share your past collaborative endeavors in the comments. I would love you hear about the fruits and creativity born from your collaborations!
Wow! Time definitely flies. I cannot believe we are already halfway through 2019. I wanted to briefly touch base on my progress and future goals forThe Simple Catholicblog.
While I accomplished and learned many things this past year, more importantly I want to first thank you for all your support. Thank you for reading, sharing, visiting,commenting, or providing me advice over the past year! I cannot thank you enough. I am humbled by your support.🙏
Over the past year I have made steady progress—growingviewshipevery month since January. In June, I had over 2,000 views—including making the first page for Google for the long tail keyword phrase of “Corpus Christ feast day quotes.”
Along with my previous monthly contributions to EpicPew.com and serving as a Managing Editor for Catholicstand.com, I was graced with the opportunities to write/contribute to Voyage Comics and Catholic Exchange–both publications on my writing ✍️bucket-list.
Another major breakthrough for my blog was my ability and commitment to have guest posts from other talented Catholic writers. My goal for the second half of 2019 is to have at least one guest post published a week. If you are an established writer or beginning blogger please reach out to me. I would love to have a conversation about your goals as a writer and want to help you in any way I can.
Thank you again for your supporting The Simple Catholic blog! I am excited for the next six months and beyond. If you have any questions about Catholicism or comic books (I currently binge read at least 10 a week! 🙂) comment on a post or contact me on the Contact page. Hope you had a blessed 1st half of 2019 and I hope last half of the year treats you even better.
Anne Frank wrote, “No one has ever become poor by giving.” Over 70 years since her death, the Jewish diarist’s words still ring true. Generosity is not only a virtue, but a practical skill that increases your lifestyle. Jason Vana’s video on “Givers vs. Takers” inspired me to write on this subject. Today, I will focus on things givers can teach us. Givers do not have an ulterior motive. In respect to social media, Jason tells us “givers” do not place value on numbers such as follower count. Takers on the other hand seek to “use” people as a means to their end. From takers we can learn WHAT NOT TO DO. Givers teach us WHAT TO DO. Let’s look at three valuable lessons we can learn from givers.
Giving Frees You from Yourself
American author Maya Angelou wrote, “I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.” The ego prevents you from fully investing in giving best practices to your colleagues or devoting your full time and attention to your spouse. In my post 2 Effective Weapons to Defeat the Sin of Pride, I said, “Because God created humanity to live in communion, the sin of pride isolates individuals from others. Relationships strain, fracture, and eventually die if pride is left unchecked. Humility and gratitude attack and defend effectively against this sinister sin.” Pride leads to a taker mentality. Giving leads to gratitude and humility.
Giving Leads to Joy
As Jason Vana saliently stated in his Linkein video on 05/23/2019, “Real givers do it [comment, post, like, message you] without expecting anything in return.” If the motivation behind giving is completely selfless the result is not fame, fortune, or money. Sometimes givers receive those things. However, I have discovered that the times I am an authentic giver—to my wife, kids, friends, co-workers, or my neighbors—the result is joy!
St. Francis of Assisi reminds of this truth in Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace. The Italian saint says, “For it is in giving that we receive.” Experience proves this and my faith confirms this reality. Now, don’t simply turn into a giver to get the reward of joy. You will only remind a clandestine taker. Love others truly and fully. Expect nothing in return. Only later will you receive the joy [from others and the Other].
Slow and Steady Wins the Race
Along with providing freedom from the sin of pride and leading to joy, the third lesson givers teach us that life is a marathon. The official length of a marathon is 26.2 miles! Even as a former high school cross country runner, and someone trying to get back into shape, a marathon sounds like a lot of work. The same is true of a giving mentality. Giving without expecting anything in return rarely produces short-term benefits.
I am reminded from the fable The Tortoise and the Hare when listened to Jason’s series of videos on giving/taking. Giving is not something you simply do for a short period of time. You cannot increase your giving exponentially, but only for a limited time and expect to receive in return. The taker mindset views short-term successes whereas givers see their approach as a lifestyle (a long-term). Slow and steady allows you to cross the finish line. Do not be that person who exerts all their energy in the opening miles only to peter out and fail to even complete the journey.
Be a giver. Share. React. Comment. Not only on people’s posts who would benefit you. Instead, give without expecting ANYTHING in return. Help those most in need of advice and reassurance. I am grateful for Jason Vana’s videos and his humble message. I hope this post will help someone else in return as well!
Mark Twain once wrote, “Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are pliable.” We seem to within the age of advanced metrics, statistics, and quantification of nearly all aspects of life. Within the workplace it is likely that you may be evaluated based off an array of statistical categories and metrics. As an avid football fan, I noticed a great increase in the amount of time and column space that sports agencies such as ESPN and network sportscasters spend on discussing [mostly debating] who belongs in the “elite” quarterback conversation in the NFL. Needless to say, statistics have become part and parcel of our daily life over recent history—the same is true for blogging.
Dating back to my high school years I developed a strong interest in gathering various information and analyzing it. For a time, I seriously contemplated going to college to become a professional statistician. The analytical side of me naturally ogles and takes glee in the statistics that I have available through WordPress. Are we to be measured by our accomplishments or by the attitude that we put into our work? The world makes external successful paramount in determining our self-worth, however, is this a healthy way to live? More importantly is this approach to determining dignity of a person actually true? I hope to address these concerns in today’s post.
Depending on your worldview and upbringing it may be debatable as to whether the achievements that we accomplish through our career and hobbies act as the defining feature for a person’s self-worth. What I want to discuss today is that measuring your success as a blogger solely on statistics and viewership is not the entire picture. Below are five reasons to support this claim.
Why are you writing?: This is the first question that you should constantly keep on the forefront of your mind when blogging. Are you writing to gain notoriety or as a means to improve yourself and others? Put another way is the purpose for blogging ultimately self-serving or for serving others? St. Thomas Aquinas once stated, “The things that we love tell us what we are.” I continually need to remind myself that I write to better myself and to help others find joy in this life—not to amass high stats!
2. Consistency is King: Although the world is a constantly changing reality, humans still hold a strong desire for stability. Possessing a consistency of character, will, and an even-keel of our emotions is a strong indicator for success. I struggle with keeping my emotions in check at times. What helps me during low points in my writing journey is to continue to focus the reason that I write–to help others find joy! I found this superb yet simple quote from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson helpful. He said, “Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come.”
What has continued to provide me assurance and sustained me through periods of writer’s block is to always remember to focus on consistently writing and not worry about the popularity of my articles. Consistency is preferred over flashy statistics or outlandish blog topics.
3. Quality over quantity: Following closely with the previous point, it is good to remind yourself that while it is important to write on a consistent basis focus on the caliber of your post instead of the number. When I stray away from this principal I generate haphazard articles that are sloppily put together. Although I am able to get an immediate satisfaction from publishing that day, when I reflect on previous blog posts I tend to have a regret about hitting the Publish button.
4. Self-worth not determined by external measurements: According to the Catholic Church, the dignity of all human persons is not measured through our social, political, and monetary accomplishments. We are born with an innate dignity. The Second Vatican II document Gadium Et Spes [Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World] declared,
According to the almost unanimous opinion of believers and unbelievers alike, all things on earth should be related to man as their center and crown.
But what is man? About himself he has expressed, and continues to express, many divergent and even contradictory opinions. In these he often exalts himself as the absolute measure of all things or debases himself to the point of despair. The result is doubt and anxiety. The Church certainly understands these problems. Endowed with light from God, she can offer solutions to them, so that man’s true situation can be portrayed and his defects explained, while at the same time his dignity and destiny are justly acknowledged (#12).
The key phrase that jumped out to me is that when we place ourselves at the center of attention–the result is doubt and anxiety! Focusing on how popular you become as a blogger will have an initial rush of confidence and feelings of happiness, but these sensations will pass. Believe me, each time I hit a benchmark goal that I set for my writing career [i.e. landing a columnist opportunity, becoming a managing editor at an online magazine, and even an article published in a print magazine] I experience short term pleasure, but if I continue to judge my worth as a writer on these external accomplishments I soon fall into despair.
Pridefully, I fell into the trap believing that it is possible to achieve success all the time and when I hit periods of drought anxiety soon follows. Please do not falter in the same with that I struggle with frequently. Your self-worth as a writer is not to be determined by the amount of followers you have.
5. Writing as a Tool to Help Others not for Self-glory: Dovetailing from the last point and also circling around to reiterate the first reason, it is important to remind yourself that writing is supposed to be a tool to help others, not an avenue for self-glory. The Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho appropriately stated, “Writing means sharing. It’s part of the human condition to want to share things – thoughts, ideas, opinions.” Use your platform on WordPress [or other sites if you reading this elsewhere] to promote your writing as a way to bridge the differences in the world and be an advocate for truth!
I initially wrote this article as a means to help temper my addiction to checking my WordPress app over twenty times a day—I thank my wife for confronting me about this issue. Over the course of writing this article, I realized that others may struggle with this similar obsession. I focused my efforts in trying to be as articulate as possible in assuring any of my readers that are also writers. Please do not despair if you experience a lull in your blogging hobby/career. Please feel free to share this article to any of your friends that may struggle with similar issues of self-doubt or those who have hit a thick wall of writer’s block! Thank you again for all of my followers, readers, and advocates that have supported me throughout my journey.
According to English writer G.K. Chesterton, “A good novel tells us the truth
about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.”
This statement rings true especially in relation to another great English
author—Clive Staples (C.S.) Lewis! No another writer, accept maybe J.R.R.
Tolkien, has influenced me and provided me as much inspiration for my writing
over the course of the past couple years as Lewis.
C.S. Lewis once declared, “I can’t imagine a man really enjoying a book and
reading it only once.” While that statement is true for all good books and
excellent authors, his pithy saying certainly foreshadowed how all his writings
would be received by his fans [and any literature enthusiast!] in the decades
after his death. Below are five reasons why the premiere Christian apologist of
the 20th century inspires me [and others] in the 21st century and beyond.
Imaginative Genius
Up until a few years ago, I only knew C.S. Lewis through The Chronicles
of Narnia series. His character of Aslan, the symbolic figure of the Holy
Trinity is among the greatest fictional characters ever created. Both the power
and gentle nature of Aslan makes him relatable and mysterious figure at the
same time.
Along with creating the history, characters, and landscapes of a world
accessed through a mere wardrobe, reading Lewis’ Space Trilogy truly
proved to me his imaginative genius. His science fiction novels take readers on
an interplanetary peregrination. Out of the Silent Planet depicts unfallen
alien species unstained by Original Sin. Lewis’ creates a vivid experience that
continually draws you into the mysterious rational alien and their eventually
interaction with humans. The second novel Perelandra retells the
traditional story of the Fall of humanity but occurring on the planet Venus.
Lewis’ prompts interesting questions about man’s ability to evangelize beyond
Earth—assuming extraterrestrial life exists!
Engaging Your Intellect
In addition to stirring the imagination of readers, C.S. Lewis also wrote
with the ability to whet your intellectual pallet. His ability to write about
deep theological truths with ease of understanding and depth is second to none.
Even though I earned a master’s degree in Theology, I still learned a lot from
Lewis’ introductory primer on Christianity—Mere Christianity. While
the entire book is a gem, for conciseness’s sake I will only point out a couple
key passages that made the human condition of sin easy to understand the relay:
“Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred,
loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will
find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.”
“As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always
looking down on thing and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking
down you cannot see something that is above you.”
Gateway to Tolkien
The great friendship
between C.S. Lewis and contemporary professor of literature J.R.R. Tolkien is
legendary. Concerned about the state of literature both writers pledged to do
something proactive instead of simply lamenting. During the 1930s, Lewis and
Tolkien truly came to the scene with the former penning his Space Trilogy and
the latter publishing the classic work The Hobbit.
Both men challenged each other to be a better writer and grow their writing
abilities by exploring different genres. Below is a link which details
Tolkien’s friendly challenge to Lewis to delve into the realm of science
fiction!
Tolkien stated of his bond with Lewis, “Friendship with Lewis compensates
for much, and besides giving constant pleasure and comfort has done me much
good from the contact with a man at once honest, brave, intellectual–a scholar,
a poet, and a philosopher–and a lover, at least after a long pilgrimage, of Our
Lord.” I am indebted to C.S. Lewis for introducing me to the joy of
reading Tolkien.
Versatility
Lewis’ dexterous
prose and subject matter enlighten my mind and infuse a youthfulness to my life
like no another author—save possibly Tolkien himself! Tackling the age-old
dilemma of evil in The Problem of Pain to enchantingly depicting
eschatology in dream-like sequences in The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis
provides a panoply of subject matter for theologians—lay and professional—to
discuss and re-read many times over.
Schools through Suffering
St. Ignatius of
Loyola spoke of the purpose of trials in this way, “If God sends you many
sufferings, it is a sign that He has great plans for you and certainly wants to
make you a saint.” While C.S. Lewis did not formally convert to Catholicism he
definitely endured suffering and helped lead countless to a deeper relationship
with Christ. Suffering immensely from the death of his wife, Lewis channeled
this pain and it bore the fruit of his work A Grief Observed.
The rawness of his prose struck me as both honest and real. Lewis lamented
in A Grief Observed, “We were promised sufferings. They were part of
the program. We were even told, ‘Blessed are they that mourn,’ and I accept it.
I’ve got nothing that I hadn’t bargained for. Of course, it is different when
the thing happens to oneself, not to others, and in reality, not imagination.”
I certain relate to this. From a cerebral level I certainly understand the
promise of suffering Christ guarantees in John 15:20. Not until we encounter
suffering do, we truly get tested. Only after the storm do we realize the
lessons given.
C.S. Lewis declared, “We read to know we are not alone.” Through reading the
masterful works of the great English writer I grown both as a Christian and as
a writer. His ability to move my mind to ponder higher realities with simple
examples allows me to understand the good, true, and beauty in the world much
better.
According to Winston Churchill, “The maxim ‘Nothing but perfection’ may be spelled ‘paralysis’.” As a recovering (and struggling) perfectionist myself, the English statesman’s words definitely makes sense. Perfectionists demand absolute flawlessness in all activities. Since I have focused more on making time to developing content for this blog and on social media, I have learned an important lesson. Consistency matters. Consistency allows one to produce more content regularly and in a fairly short time.
