Stop Chasing Perfect: How to Know When Your Creative Work is DONE

If you’re a photographer, videographer, writer, or any kind of creative, you’ve probably been here before—pouring your heart into a project, tweaking and refining every little detail, hoping to get it just right.

You want your work to represent the best of what you can do. It’s your passion, your pride, your skillset on display. But here’s the thing…

At some point, you have to stop.

That’s the part so many creatives struggle with: knowing when a project is done.

Early in my career, I was working on a project that I just couldn’t let go of. I kept refining, adjusting, and second-guessing myself. I convinced myself that if I had just a little more time, I could make it perfect.

But my boss saw what was happening and gave me a piece of advice that completely shifted my mindset:

“Don’t let perfect be the enemy of great.”

What he meant was that while I was chasing perfect, I was already sitting on something great. And worse, my endless polishing was actually slowing things down—not just for me, but for the whole team.

That was a wake-up call.

One of the best examples of this struggle? Video editing.

If you’ve ever edited a video, you know how easy it is to get sucked into the details:

• Moving a cut a few frames forward and then back again…
• Adjusting the audio levels by tiny increments…
• Tweaking the color grading just a little more…
• Debating whether you need to reshoot something entirely…

It’s an endless loop. And if you’re not careful, you can spend hours on adjustments that the average viewer will never even notice.

At the same time, I know that editing is where the magic happens. It’s what brings a video to life. So how do you balance the need for quality with the need to actually finish?

I’ve started asking myself:
“Is this edit making the story better, or am I just lost in the details?”

This struggle isn’t unique to video editing—it happens in all creative fields.

George Lucas famously kept revising the original Star Wars movies, adding tweaks and edits years after they were released. Some fans appreciated the updates, but others felt that the originals had a special charm that didn’t need to be changed.

Ernest Hemingway once admitted that he would keep revising his work forever if he could, but he had to learn to let go and move on.

Even history’s most successful creators have had to learn to finish their work, imperfections and all.

So what’s helped me break free from perfectionism? Here are a couple of things that work for me:

Set Time Limits: Whether it’s a client project or a personal one, set a hard deadline for when it’s done. This prevents you from endlessly tweaking and actually forces you to ship your work.

Remember Who It’s For: Most of the things we obsess over? Our audience won’t even notice. Step back and ask yourself if the changes you’re making are actually impacting the experience, or if they’re just things you notice.

Accept That Growth Comes from Moving Forward: Every project is a stepping stone. Your work today might not be as refined as what you’ll create in five years—and that’s okay! You learn, you improve, and you get better with each completed project.

At the end of the day, chasing perfection can stop us from creating anything at all. If we spend too much time trying to perfect one project, we miss out on the next great idea, the next challenge, the next opportunity to grow.

So if you’re stuck in the perfectionist trap, here’s my challenge to you:

Let it go. Ship it. Move on.

You might be surprised to realize… it was already great.

What Do You Think?

Have you ever struggled to call a project “done”? What’s one piece of work you finally let go of? Drop a comment below—I’d love to hear your thoughts!