The Power of Tiny Steps
I've been thinking about something lately. Something that's the complete opposite of how I usually do things — and it feels really good.
It's primarily the work on the Bearming theme that made me realize this. Before, I always wanted to have the whole picture clear in my mind beforehand. I tweaked and fiddled, turned it this way and that before finally deciding to release something.
There's been this idea that "everything has to be perfect." This has resulted in spending a huge amount of time before pressing the publish button. There are several problems with such an approach...
For one thing, there is no external feedback whatsoever when I'm sitting and tinkering behind closed doors. It becomes a limited creation process with a very narrow perspective. A one-man show for something that's intended for an audience.
Another problem with creating "for my eyes only" is that the public announcement will never get a response that matches the time spent on the project. It leads to a feeling of scarcity, that it's not worth it. I've spent all this time, and this is all I get?
The new approach for me of creating publicly feels incredibly liberating and refreshing. I first released a beta of the theme and have since refined it and added new things along the way. Having a changelog also reinforces the feeling of continuity and development on a creatively rewarding level.
I'm going to try to implement the same mindset with my entire blog. Revisiting old posts, reviewing the content, maybe adding tags or an image, and so on. A never-ending project without timeframes.
Bits and pieces that slowly, one step at a time, make for a more detailed and interesting picture – that's the kind of digital painting I want to keep creating.