“Mediocre first draft”

The critique “this is a mediocre first draft” is a bit of a redundant statement.

It could just easily be rephrased as “Of course it’s mediocre, it’s a first draft.”

If you have any bit of Overachiever in your DNA, this is a reality that can be difficult to reconcile with.

We want the first thing we produce to be perfect. And when it’s not perfect, when we notice flaws or inconsistencies, we ridicule the work and ourselves for it as if they never should have happened.

It’s a tough perspective to change, but one that can be changed. And it starts with recognizing what a first draft is really is — it’s an imperfect, rough attempt. It’s not meant to represent where you’ll end up, it exists to get your ideas flowing — to get you started.

The next time you look at a draft and think to yourself, “this is mediocre”, consider a bit of rephrasing: “of course it’s mediocre.”

And it’s okay. If anything, it signals that you have good taste, that you actually know what needs to be done to make it better and all that’s left is putting in the extra work to get there.