It's easy to fall into the trap of being too precious about things you create, wanting to get every detail just right. This can be particularly paralyzing at the beginning of a creative process when there’s the biggest gap between where you are and where you want to be.

Over the weekend I was reminded of a good antidote. A few friends and I spent Sunday working on several art installations for the group’s Burning Man camp. One of the tasks involved painting shuriken shaped stencils on pieces of what would eventually become a sedan chair.

I had only been painting a few minutes when Phil, a fifteen year Burning Man veteran and owner of the auto shop where we were working, strode over.

“I can tell this isn’t going to work.”

I hadn’t hit my stride just yet but the verdict seemed a bit premature.

“Can I see your brush?”

I obliged his command-disguised-as-a-question.

“What were you going to paint next?”

I pointed.

Before I could pull my hand back, Phil streaked a big red line across it, dripping red splotches on the sideboard in the process.

“There. Now you can stop worrying about getting it on yourself or trying to be too neat about it.”

I was much more productive after that.