Precision Matters

[On Not Killing Creativity - II]

Specificity matters. Precision matters.

Consider foraging for a moment. Foraging for food is one of those rare activities during which a hunger for the thing we're searching for grows the harder and longer we work for them. Even further, a demand for the specific thing being hunted also grows. Anyone who has foraged for morel mushrooms, for instance, knows that finding any edible substance will not do. The search demands morels.

Specificity both fuels the desire and thereby inspires the promise of finding the mushroom unlike a general, aimless search for whatever might qualify as edible.

The same goes for creativity and creative solutions. They require specificity. The creative energies required for the search and the creative appetite for answers are fueled, not hampered, by precision.

Vagueness, while vogue, does the opposite of inspire creativity and wonder. It dilutes both. And it's simply a lack of discipline.

Precision costs. Time. Hard work. Study. Overcoming weaknesses and insecurities.

But it’s also an investment. Into the future. And most importantly, into our creative potential.

Be specific.
Be precise.