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“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” —Matthew 5:48
A particular writing exercise requires you to leave a known mistake or imperfection in a manuscript for a week before making any attempt to correct it. Every day, you must read your manuscript, keeping track of your inner tolerance for the error. It drives most people crazy to keep the flaw in until the end of the week. But that’s the whole point!
The purpose of the exercise is to confront perfectionism and that old, familiar, critical inner voice. It teaches the writer to be comfortable with what is, instead of what should be. The lesson of accepting our mistakes helps us put them in perspective and brings them into balance with our accomplishments. It sounds like a good exercise for life, doesn’t it?
In fact, ancient Greek artisans purposefully left imperfections in their creations so as not to be…
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