Therapy for Creative Professionals in NYC:

A ceramics class was split into two groups — one graded on quantity, one on perfection. At the end of the semester, the quantity group had made more work and better work. The quality group? Many didn't finish. Some turned nothing in at all.

Perfectionism doesn't just diminish creative work. It stops it entirely. And after 20 years as a therapist working with creative professionals, I can tell you: that paralysis isn't a discipline problem or a thinking problem. It's a nervous system problem. And that distinction changes everything about how to address it.