How to Overcome Perfectionism and Become More Productive as a Music Creator
- Rafael Piccolotto de Lima
- Feb 7, 2023
- 5 min read
Updated: Jun 21
In Music and in Life: Done Is Better Than Perfect
The most important lesson I learned during my graduate studies in the United States is something very simple, yet extremely important for music creators. It is an idea that changed my life as a composer, arranger, and producer.
“Done is better than perfect.” This is a concept that applies not only to music, but to all forms of creation and accomplishment, artistic or otherwise.
Would you like to understand this idea a little better? I’d like to share some reflections on how I arrived at this conclusion, based on my experiences and musical development, from personal frustrations in Brazil to important professional accomplishments here in the United States.
Perfectionism Can Be the Enemy
I am a very self-critical and perfectionistic person.
For many years, this tendency blocked my creative process. I would start writing a piece, put the first ideas on paper, and then suddenly stop. I felt it would be better to pause and think more carefully before continuing. Almost every time, I concluded that the music was not as good as I wanted it to be and that the idea itself was not as strong as it could become.
At that point, I would abandon the project before it even had a chance to take shape.
As a result, I often produced far less than I was capable of producing. At the time, I spent a lot of energy trying to understand why I felt capable of composing more, creating more, yet struggled to move the process forward at the pace I wanted.
You Need to Keep Moving
Years later, when I arrived at the University of Miami to pursue my Master’s degree in Studio Jazz Writing at the Frost School of Music, I encountered the working philosophy of my mentor, Gary Lindsay. He expected constant production and frequent deadlines. Every week I was writing compositional exercises, big band arrangements, orchestrations, and a variety of other projects with demanding expectations.
In addition, I had the responsibility of attending the university as a scholarship recipient and Composer Fellow of the Henry Mancini Institute. This meant that I also had responsibilities as a composer and arranger for the Institute itself. In other words, my writing workload and musical production responsibilities were enormous. And I had to deliver.
This routine, together with the feedback from my mentor, encouraged me to keep putting ideas on paper and continue writing, even when I was not completely satisfied with my work or did not think it was perfect. I had to keep moving. I had to create.
Don’t assume that I was submitting poor work simply to meet deadlines.
The responsibility was significant, and the standards were extremely high. After all, I was studying at one of the leading music schools in the United States, and the artists I eventually wrote for included jazz legends such as Chick Corea and Terence Blanchard.
The breakthrough came when I lowered my expectations during the early stages of creation and allowed the process to continue.
Once the first drafts existed, I could improve them. I could revise, edit, and refine my music until I reached a result I was happy with.
Editing as Part of the Creative Process
Something finally clicked for me: editing is, in fact, part of the creative process. In my online course, Creative Processes in Music, there is even an entire chapter dedicated to this subject, with several examples.
Understanding that editing is part of the creative process is essential. When we put ideas on paper and begin working with them, other ideas emerge. The act of writing becomes part of the development of thought itself. Writing is, in many ways, a way of expanding our mental capacity.
As an experiment, try solving a complex mathematical problem entirely in your head. It is much harder, isn’t it? When we put ideas on paper, we are able to think more clearly and see things that we would not otherwise notice. The same thing happens with music creation.
The process begins to flow when we realize that what we write at the beginning is not necessarily what will remain at the end. And more than that, once we remove the pressure of needing the music to be perfect from the very beginning, it becomes much easier to overcome the barriers created by ego and self-criticism.
Many musicians who work with me joke that I make endless revisions, that every rehearsal seems to bring a new version. They are right. I do not feel obligated to remain attached to what I originally wrote. Perhaps in the future I will look back and realize that something could have been written differently, and if I believe the change is worthwhile, believe me, I make it.
It is common for me to have multiple versions of the same composition or arrangement, musical creations that I continue modifying over the years until the moment I decide to stop and settle on a final version, usually the one that will eventually be recorded.
It’s Done. Now It Can Become Better
Once we understand that done is better than perfect, it becomes possible to get closer to perfection. This is because we place ourselves in a position of constant production and continuous growth. This is one of the great lessons, perhaps the greatest lesson, that I took from my graduate studies here in the United States.
My years at the University of Miami were among the most productive periods of my life. They helped me grow and mature tremendously as a composer and arranger. During those years, I took a major step forward in my career. I went from being a talented student with potential to becoming a recognized professional, earning numerous awards and distinctions, including a Latin Grammy nomination.
And what about you? Have you been putting your ideas on paper? Have you been creating consistently? What have you already done that could get closer to perfect?
And if your creative process is not flowing the way you would like, I invite you to explore my course Creative Processes in Music. It may help you in your own search for your best work.
Epilogue: The Origin of the Word
We can think of perfection as an aspiration, an ideal. But it is worth reflecting on what we truly desire.
While researching the origin of the word, I came across a thought that I found liberating. In Latin, the word “perfect” means completed, finished, brought entirely to its conclusion. Do we really want to take that form? Could that not also be a definition of death? Perfection is the absence of possibility for change, process, and evolution.
I believe we should not necessarily see perfection as a place to arrive at too soon, but rather as a pursuit that keeps us moving and propels us toward growth. At the same time, accepting imperfection as a state of transformation and possibility is, in many ways, embracing the human condition. And it is within that condition that art flourishes.
About the Author
Rafael Piccolotto de Lima is a composer, arranger, music director, and educator. A Latin Grammy-nominated composer and recipient of 13 DownBeat Awards, he teaches, mentors, and supports musicians in the areas of composition, arranging, musical creativity, and artistic development.
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