Who else struggles with being a perfectionist? If we only published our art when we thought it was perfect, we would never publish anything at all. What other things do you struggle with as a creator? Let me know in the comments below.
I'm not so much a creator in the artistic sense -- well, I have creative hobbies, but I mean in publicly-seen work -- but as a web applications programmer, I run into the same thing. I'm sure you understand that fully, too, since you built Patreon! But yeah, I want everything to be fully finished and full-featured and ready to go before releasing anything. Which is especially silly in applications, because with those, you're pretty much _expected_ to release new versions with new functionality (and even bug fixes). I think it's very similar to what musicians and other more artistic creators run into, and I understand entirely! (And yes, that moment in that song was really great! As Evanescence describes in one of their songs, it's a "perfect imperfection". It shows the beauty of being human!)
Perfectionist/performance anxiety all my life since I started back in the 90s.. only took me 19 years to release my first official vinyl. I’m getting better at letting go, specially now when doing YT but it’s a constant struggle not to “think”..
It happens far to often that my will to perfectly craft out that fantastic idea that I have ends in me not even starting with it at all outside my head 😶 And if I actually do start, I fiddle with it for so long that after a while it's not interesting any more. Five million new ideas have already popped up and taken the first ones place of curiosity...
"I'm gonna scrub all the joy out of it" that describes perfectionism quite perfectly, especially in our case as creators, we're not accountants or doctors. Loved this talk!
I think it's a balance. That one moment of rawness worked because it was only one haha. Rock music is still mixed and mastered+ everyone plays to the right tempo together
This is an advice I got from Hank Green on one of his videos a couple years ago. I think this is still the best advice I've ever got on this matter. Not going beyond 80% good enough is the actual goal!
My struggle with perfectionism has prevented me from uploading content. I feel like I’m just now getting over it enough to actually finish/upload videos even if they aren’t “perfect”. Thanks for this reminder! ✌️
Honestly, this should be TED talk in and of itself. I heard a quote similar to this a few years ago from David Fincher, "Movies aren't finished. They are abandoned." In the creative space you can achieve excellence only without perfection but still learning on a daily basis to hone your craft and improve continually. Thank you for all you do. Your videos are always top notch.
Absolutely right! I worked on my perfectionism by taking very raw videos of me talking (I am a teacher) and uploading them without cutting or editing them in any way. When I don't know how to go on, I just pause, like on a normal conversation, and I don't edit those pauses in the final take. This has been hugely appreciated by my audience. Autenticity and rawness are the currency of the future, and I must say... it's really relaxing to know it.
My whole life is being restructured around this idea at the moment...I have so many things I've been sitting on waiting for that perfect situation where I can finally get it out there. Now I'm shifting the focus to getting it out there in all its real rawness above and beyond a anything! love you, Jack
This is very real. I needed that. I have been working to create, create, create. At some point, we have to just let go. That point is likely way sooner than we think it is.
I don't know how much one can extend that concept to electronic music. When I hear a raw mix or just unpolished tune in general, I rarely rarely like it and won't listen to it again, unless the underlying melodic or groove ideas are so good that I just can't resist it. In general, I feel like electronic music has to be polished and precise to deliver the right impact.
The rawness of your music has done so much for me, Jack, and I'm glad you enjoyed making it! I hope I can do that one day, and want to have more fun creating
Yes! that's what we do want: to see/hear each other in the actual, real moment. Kudos, Jack! You had the courage to show it/say it/ empower it! Thank you.
Wow, I just adore your energy, your intentions and your content. You and your team all deserve every gram of success you have and will get, thank you 🎉❤😊
I really needed this. I want to publish my music but when I'm looking for affordable microphones/piano's, I keep thinking: "shouldn't I spend more money to make it the best it can be? Why even bother with worse quality? But I don't have a lot of money, should I even try?" All things I didn't even think off while writing the songs. I really need to get back to the basics. Thank you for this video
Oh boy, perfectionism, the bane of my existence. A friend of mine gave me a copy of Brene Brown’s book on Perfectionism recently and I have yet to read it. It is so hard to let go, and as an artist as well, to get a piece of my art “right” is so strong. I have to remember that progress not perfection and allow room for growth and not work myself up too much. Great video Jack! Great topic too!
I swear I was supposed to find your channel and your message this week! I've struggled with perfectionism so much in the past year. Creating videos & short filmed is my absolute passion, but I completely stopped uploading videos because I was paralysed by this fear of things not being perfect, but the truth is - especially with creatives and their art - it will NEVER be 'perfect'. We could spend eternity tweaking and changing... just to throw it in the bin at the end anyway, lol. Without fail, the stuff I've created that 'performed' the best, was the stuff that I didn't overthink. I just had an idea, made it and hit 'upload'. Thanks for sharing your experiences, it's really resonated with me :)
Hey Jack! This is great advice. We're not perfect and need reminders that not everyone is living an "Instagram Life". Raw and real content is out there. Being relatable will help garner more support and larger viewership. YASSS! MORE OF THIS!
That's it! Amazing, Jack! I'm going through exactly that right now, learning to be raw. Brené's book "Daring Greatly" is a must for artists and creators.
Thanks for sharing this! I've just recently been binging "Tips and advice for creators" since I've often toyed with the idea of releasing the songs I've written. I can relate to a lot of the struggles and aspirations you have shared in your videos. I have often been afraid to post my songs because I can't exactly get the sound that I hear in my head (i.e. I want a horn section but midi horns don't sound as good). Maybe I should anyway :) Thanks for being an advocate of vulnerability.
I understand the idea here.. and it's great. But I really hope you don't go too far and stop producing things closer to perfectionism every once in awhile, because the reason I love your videos so much is how far above and beyond you go with your editing compared to everyone else's 80% videos. It goes both ways, and it's a really difficult balance! It's kind of a gut feeling you really have to practice and hone in on to know when the time is right to let something go out to the world. I think it's good to decide in advance if something is going to be a 70%, 80% or 90% thing and aim for that watermark. Sometimes you really do want to polish something if it's something you truly care about and believe in, and other times you should really be focusing more on the message than the editing (like this video). Choose your battles, uniformity is boring, and there is no one right answer!
This video helps me so much! I struggle with the feeling of having to do everything perfect and it's definitely crippling... That's for putting my thoughts into words
Let's practice f*ing hard. Then create raw, beautiful, human things that people really want to see. Let's be so good that people love our mistakes more than everyone else's polished, idealised creations.
I never thought Jack would end up helping me so much, should have known by the way I was drawn to Pomplamoose that they were going to be a part of my last fe.
Left YT as a creator awhile ago. Have issues with how they are censoring and big tech is making creators slaves of algorithms.... all that said, you have yourself a new Patreon creator. Think I found my new home.🙃
That's all very well & good Jack, but you and your friend's musicianship is off the charts. Your 80% is amazing, us other lesser mortals sometimes really struggle. I totally get what you are saying though, nothing, no matter how excellent is perfect. There's stuff that's acceptable. Hell, I'm even trying to make this comment perfect. Maybe it's just down to self esteem & confidence.
Love this man!! I've been trying for months to get some traction on creative projects, but they all get stopped before I start due to my need for them to be perfect. Phew, vulnerability it scary, but maybe the only way.
Jack, Your talks and videos have helped me so much. They make so much sense and really inspire me to go out and create more awesome stuff for the world :) I remember being a 9 year old kid watching "Bloody Nose" and all your old Video Songs and loving them. Even before I knew how much I loved music and art in general. I connected with your art and what you were doing. Thank you Jack for being you and having the balls to put yourself out there for everyone. Your a special person and I hope one day. I can finally meet ya and learn all of the Artist secrets 😉😂♥️ Much Love
This is what I needed to hear while Im trying to finish my paper to finish my bachelor. I can just keep editing certain parts for hours without seeing any improvements xD
This was very inspiring, I doing too much polishing my videos, im sometimes Get flow on a wave of creativity. Then other times spending to much time on search for the next wave to come, but instead of telling RAW. That shows the better feelings. Thx for making my try other things. Saying hello from Norway. It’s always nice to see your videos. Thanks for sharing
Jack, I love your videos. Please make more videos like this! I've been giving myself just a couple of hours to make a video lately. I love your thoughts on vulnerability and sharing the imperfect versions. Will practice this daily :) Thanks Jack!
I agree with this. But to share an exception to this, I heard somewhere that Dreams by Fleetwood Mac took 8 months of work every single day to come out. High risk, high reward
Yoooo, Jack. After working 2 weeks (including 2 Days tweaking a little String arrangement) on a friendship based remix of an boring Ibiza-Sampler Track that was produced in 3 hours, I finally had to face the Issue, that I had in the last 20 Years of music making. Sooo...thanks for this!!! As a Pomplamoose Patron I have now this brilliant Idea for a RMX/Video for your "Hot Tub"... 30 minutes ago my first thought was "Ok...but for this I really have to finish and clean up my little Studio in my new awesome flat. Thanks for giving me the permission to f*ck this....ah..moment..priorities...will be a RMX of YOUR work. ok. let me clean up a little. But I wont spend more than 1 Day on Strings. I guess!! Love from Germany! INgo P.
During the pandemic I set out to write, compose and record a full song by myself: worked on it everyday for almost two months, mostly refining, redoing, rerecording, until I got sick of it and left it unfinished :/
At first I thought the group zoom call aspect of these videos was about having a conversation with other people talking, but actually it’s a way to have an audience listening in your video, with one token quote from them per video. This gives your words more visual credibility and broadcasts you as a leader of conversation. I can understand why you include it, but it’s still weird.
Who are the people he's talking to is it like a creator chat group or Patreon company chat group? Would be interesting to livestream some more of that!
Who else struggles with being a perfectionist? If we only published our art when we thought it was perfect, we would never publish anything at all. What other things do you struggle with as a creator? Let me know in the comments below.
I'm not so much a creator in the artistic sense -- well, I have creative hobbies, but I mean in publicly-seen work -- but as a web applications programmer, I run into the same thing. I'm sure you understand that fully, too, since you built Patreon!
But yeah, I want everything to be fully finished and full-featured and ready to go before releasing anything. Which is especially silly in applications, because with those, you're pretty much _expected_ to release new versions with new functionality (and even bug fixes).
I think it's very similar to what musicians and other more artistic creators run into, and I understand entirely!
(And yes, that moment in that song was really great! As Evanescence describes in one of their songs, it's a "perfect imperfection". It shows the beauty of being human!)
Thinking that better equipment is going to create better results
Perfectionist/performance anxiety all my life since I started back in the 90s.. only took me 19 years to release my first official vinyl. I’m getting better at letting go, specially now when doing YT but it’s a constant struggle not to “think”..
It happens far to often that my will to perfectly craft out that fantastic idea that I have ends in me not even starting with it at all outside my head 😶
And if I actually do start, I fiddle with it for so long that after a while it's not interesting any more. Five million new ideas have already popped up and taken the first ones place of curiosity...
I am raising my hand! lol
"I'm gonna scrub all the joy out of it" that describes perfectionism quite perfectly, especially in our case as creators, we're not accountants or doctors. Loved this talk!
I think it's a balance. That one moment of rawness worked because it was only one haha. Rock music is still mixed and mastered+ everyone plays to the right tempo together
This is an advice I got from Hank Green on one of his videos a couple years ago. I think this is still the best advice I've ever got on this matter. Not going beyond 80% good enough is the actual goal!
My struggle with perfectionism has prevented me from uploading content.
I feel like I’m just now getting over it enough to actually finish/upload videos even if they aren’t “perfect”. Thanks for this reminder! ✌️
Needed that 🌈
Honestly, this should be TED talk in and of itself. I heard a quote similar to this a few years ago from David Fincher, "Movies aren't finished. They are abandoned." In the creative space you can achieve excellence only without perfection but still learning on a daily basis to hone your craft and improve continually. Thank you for all you do. Your videos are always top notch.
Hey Jack! Patreon has helped me so much... Thank you for everything you do! 😀
Absolutely right! I worked on my perfectionism by taking very raw videos of me talking (I am a teacher) and uploading them without cutting or editing them in any way. When I don't know how to go on, I just pause, like on a normal conversation, and I don't edit those pauses in the final take. This has been hugely appreciated by my audience. Autenticity and rawness are the currency of the future, and I must say... it's really relaxing to know it.
My whole life is being restructured around this idea at the moment...I have so many things I've been sitting on waiting for that perfect situation where I can finally get it out there. Now I'm shifting the focus to getting it out there in all its real rawness above and beyond a anything! love you, Jack
This is very real. I needed that. I have been working to create, create, create. At some point, we have to just let go. That point is likely way sooner than we think it is.
F***** yes. Thank you for helping me come to the realization that I can’t spend another moment tweaking my podcast intro.
Yes!!! Even though i know this I tend to forget it with time so thank you for the reminder 🙏🏽
There is beautify in vulnerability
I don't know how much one can extend that concept to electronic music. When I hear a raw mix or just unpolished tune in general, I rarely rarely like it and won't listen to it again, unless the underlying melodic or groove ideas are so good that I just can't resist it. In general, I feel like electronic music has to be polished and precise to deliver the right impact.
The rawness of your music has done so much for me, Jack, and I'm glad you enjoyed making it! I hope I can do that one day, and want to have more fun creating
A very important message! Pretty dang hard to do, but so worth it.
“I’m gonna scrub all the joy out of it!” 😦 That’s one for me to hold onto!
Still learning this lesson. Will likely be learning this lesson for the rest of my life.
Yes! that's what we do want: to see/hear each other in the actual, real moment. Kudos, Jack! You had the courage to show it/say it/ empower it! Thank you.
Wow, I just adore your energy, your intentions and your content. You and your team all deserve every gram of success you have and will get, thank you 🎉❤😊
I really needed this. I want to publish my music but when I'm looking for affordable microphones/piano's, I keep thinking: "shouldn't I spend more money to make it the best it can be? Why even bother with worse quality? But I don't have a lot of money, should I even try?" All things I didn't even think off while writing the songs. I really need to get back to the basics. Thank you for this video
Jack you are the man to hear if you want to start as a content creator, I'm recommending your videos to all my friends!
Thank you, Jack! I needed to hear that.
Oh boy, perfectionism, the bane of my existence. A friend of mine gave me a copy of Brene Brown’s book on Perfectionism recently and I have yet to read it. It is so hard to let go, and as an artist as well, to get a piece of my art “right” is so strong. I have to remember that progress not perfection and allow room for growth and not work myself up too much. Great video Jack! Great topic too!
I swear I was supposed to find your channel and your message this week! I've struggled with perfectionism so much in the past year. Creating videos & short filmed is my absolute passion, but I completely stopped uploading videos because I was paralysed by this fear of things not being perfect, but the truth is - especially with creatives and their art - it will NEVER be 'perfect'. We could spend eternity tweaking and changing... just to throw it in the bin at the end anyway, lol. Without fail, the stuff I've created that 'performed' the best, was the stuff that I didn't overthink. I just had an idea, made it and hit 'upload'. Thanks for sharing your experiences, it's really resonated with me :)
Yo, I’ve just finished watching your conference talk and you are just so genuine! Congratulations on making the world a better place bro!
Telephone is probably still one of my most favorite covers
This is an old, yet so inspiring video Jack! I'm going through many of your videos today, and I just love your energy!
I've actually created a new private folder where I saved this video. I named it "inspiration".
Keep doing what you're doing, Sir. Salute!
Found your channel / you today. Definitely a highlight of 2020. I can tell you are amazing ❤️
Watching again. Even better than the first time. Need to listen to this often :D
Yes perfectionism makes life hard! I always struggle with making my content as good as possible but not going crazy about it :)
Hey Jack! This is great advice. We're not perfect and need reminders that not everyone is living an "Instagram Life". Raw and real content is out there. Being relatable will help garner more support and larger viewership.
YASSS! MORE OF THIS!
This is so good! Just love your videos and take on creativity and the world
I can't tell you how much I needed to hear this today.
mentors…
There is nothing more important in the world than people who can’t help but help people. people who teach people habitually.
That's it! Amazing, Jack! I'm going through exactly that right now, learning to be raw. Brené's book "Daring Greatly" is a must for artists and creators.
JACK! You are so needed in this world, I need and thrive on hearing your perspectives on being creative and you propel me further. thank you!
Bro these videos are so motivating and inspiring to keep creating keep me creating, just create and share the rawness!!! I Tip my hat to you sir!
Thanks for sharing this! I've just recently been binging "Tips and advice for creators" since I've often toyed with the idea of releasing the songs I've written. I can relate to a lot of the struggles and aspirations you have shared in your videos. I have often been afraid to post my songs because I can't exactly get the sound that I hear in my head (i.e. I want a horn section but midi horns don't sound as good). Maybe I should anyway :) Thanks for being an advocate of vulnerability.
Thank you so much! ❤️ World needs this message.
We were there to hear this message live on that Zoom call...but it really helps to hear it again and again!
I needed this exact video right now. Thank you for this!
Everything you're saying is so obvious, but for some reason, very difficult to believe. Thank you, from a fellow perfectionist!
Ugh I love these THANKYOU
I understand the idea here.. and it's great. But I really hope you don't go too far and stop producing things closer to perfectionism every once in awhile, because the reason I love your videos so much is how far above and beyond you go with your editing compared to everyone else's 80% videos. It goes both ways, and it's a really difficult balance!
It's kind of a gut feeling you really have to practice and hone in on to know when the time is right to let something go out to the world. I think it's good to decide in advance if something is going to be a 70%, 80% or 90% thing and aim for that watermark. Sometimes you really do want to polish something if it's something you truly care about and believe in, and other times you should really be focusing more on the message than the editing (like this video). Choose your battles, uniformity is boring, and there is no one right answer!
This is what I needed, thank you!
Thanks, jack. This video came at the right time. 😊
I needed this. Thank you!
You've always been so inspiring to me, Jack. Thank you for sharing this.
This video helps me so much! I struggle with the feeling of having to do everything perfect and it's definitely crippling... That's for putting my thoughts into words
Let's practice f*ing hard. Then create raw, beautiful, human things that people really want to see.
Let's be so good that people love our mistakes more than everyone else's polished, idealised creations.
I'm going to try and really take this to heart... The amount of stuff I delete had become greater than what I put out now
Thank you my man
Wow, it makes so much sense now! 😍
I never thought Jack would end up helping me so much, should have known by the way I was drawn to Pomplamoose that they were going to be a part of my last fe.
You make content that inspires other content creators! Which is in my opinion very hard!
Left YT as a creator awhile ago. Have issues with how they are censoring and big tech is making creators slaves of algorithms.... all that said, you have yourself a new Patreon creator. Think I found my new home.🙃
That's all very well & good Jack, but you and your friend's musicianship is off the charts. Your 80% is amazing, us other lesser mortals sometimes really struggle. I totally get what you are saying though, nothing, no matter how excellent is perfect. There's stuff that's acceptable. Hell, I'm even trying to make this comment perfect. Maybe it's just down to self esteem & confidence.
I really needed this today! 🙏🏽
THANK YOU SO MUCH
Love this man!! I've been trying for months to get some traction on creative projects, but they all get stopped before I start due to my need for them to be perfect. Phew, vulnerability it scary, but maybe the only way.
Hola desde Madrid, estoy de acuerdo contigo
I needed to hear this, thank you so much! Great inspiration!
Wow. What a perfect video 👏🏻
Jack, Your talks and videos have helped me so much. They make so much sense and really inspire me to go out and create more awesome stuff for the world :) I remember being a 9 year old kid watching "Bloody Nose" and all your old Video Songs and loving them. Even before I knew how much I loved music and art in general. I connected with your art and what you were doing. Thank you Jack for being you and having the balls to put yourself out there for everyone. Your a special person and I hope one day. I can finally meet ya and learn all of the Artist secrets 😉😂♥️ Much Love
I just LOVE Jack's extras!
This is what I needed to hear while Im trying to finish my paper to finish my bachelor. I can just keep editing certain parts for hours without seeing any improvements xD
Love this! Thanks as always man 🙌
Only 69 comments?! This content is underrated
This was very inspiring, I doing too much polishing my videos, im sometimes Get flow on a wave of creativity. Then other times spending to much time on search for the next wave to come, but instead of telling RAW. That shows the better feelings. Thx for making my try other things. Saying hello from Norway. It’s always nice to see your videos. Thanks for sharing
Wow great!
Nice one Jack! encouraging video as someone who tries to make perfect YT videos LOL :-)
Some day, I'm going to hug Jack Conte. I vow it.
Did I see Sean O'Connell from think media, in the ppl u were talking to on screen?
This is perfect
(01:55) Loved this song, and loved your video editing style!!
Jack, I love your videos. Please make more videos like this! I've been giving myself just a couple of hours to make a video lately. I love your thoughts on vulnerability and sharing the imperfect versions. Will practice this daily :) Thanks Jack!
YEAH FREESTYLE IT :D love it! :)
I agree with this. But to share an exception to this, I heard somewhere that Dreams by Fleetwood Mac took 8 months of work every single day to come out. High risk, high reward
Wow I love this
You do have an awesome beard Jack. I'm just thinking that in your case... neater is better. Like the way you have it in this video.
Yoooo, Jack.
After working 2 weeks (including 2 Days tweaking a little String arrangement) on a friendship based remix of an boring Ibiza-Sampler Track that was produced in 3 hours,
I finally had to face the Issue, that I had in the last 20 Years of music making. Sooo...thanks for this!!!
As a Pomplamoose Patron I have now this brilliant Idea for a RMX/Video for your "Hot Tub"... 30 minutes ago my first thought was "Ok...but for this I really have to finish and clean up my little Studio in my new awesome flat. Thanks for giving me the permission to f*ck this....ah..moment..priorities...will be a RMX of YOUR work.
ok. let me clean up a little. But I wont spend more than 1 Day on Strings. I guess!!
Love from Germany!
INgo P.
This video is motivating me to make a video myself lol
During the pandemic I set out to write, compose and record a full song by myself: worked on it everyday for almost two months, mostly refining, redoing, rerecording, until I got sick of it and left it unfinished :/
Dude, you speak to me!! : )
1:49
I'm Polish and I feel... offended ;)
Great video !! Love Your music guys!
Remember those times of VideoSongs, miss those times
At first I thought the group zoom call aspect of these videos was about having a conversation with other people talking, but actually it’s a way to have an audience listening in your video, with one token quote from them per video. This gives your words more visual credibility and broadcasts you as a leader of conversation. I can understand why you include it, but it’s still weird.
LOVE this, Jack. Have you listened to The Gap by Ira Glass? Thanks for sharing this!
YESSSS I love his whole series on getting started as a creator -- like "ira glass on story telling" soooo good
I think it’s important to realise too that no one but you is gonna know it’s only %80 finished
Who are the people he's talking to is it like a creator chat group or Patreon company chat group? Would be interesting to livestream some more of that!
Here's the video with the laugh, for your convenience: ruclips.net/video/4FsxEYU5v4k/видео.html
is conte hufflepuff or gryffindor?
Dang! i miss your dubstep music bro
yup
Perfectionist is the wrong word. Imperfectionist is closer. One who fixates on the imperfections and in doing so loses sight of the good.
Do I spot some Accent Vocal representation??
😊
If you guys wandering for the laugh song
ruclips.net/video/4FsxEYU5v4k/видео.html
Thank me later
Please mention in the doublydoo jack
Omg, i thought u look familiar, u the guy tht play the piano 😄