How do you know when a creative project is done?

I hear from artists about this all the time. You “finish” a long-term creative project, except… you don’t feel finished. You keep tinkering, editing, playing with little nit-picky details, and still, you can’t put it away. So how do you know when a creative project is done?

I recently had a conversation about this with a group of writers, and everyone’s answer was a little different. There were people who wrapped up quickly and there were people who nit picked forever. One thing stood out to me, though; a theme that came up again and again was the ability to know the difference between making something better and simply making it different.

When will changing a word choice actually improve a project and when is it change for the sake of change? When you’re tweaking your movie’s color for the umpteenth time, is it actually making it better? Or just… different?

It can be hard to know when a creative project is done, so I’ve put together a list of questions you can ask yourself to see if you’re actually finished or not. Remember, completing a project is about creating something to the best of your ability as it exists right now, not creating something perfect. Perfect isn’t a thing!

1. When trusted critique partners give you feedback, are they unified in their comments and speaking about overarching issues, or does everyone have a different opinion about minor things? When everyone is saying the same thing, that may indicate a problem, but when everyone is pointing out different things or minor things, that’s likely a matter of personal preferences. You can’t account for everyone’s taste, so I encourage you to disregard these types of notes unless you fully agree with them.
2. Are you still working through your to-do list, or are you adding things to your to-do list? While it’s normal that some things would come up after your to-do list is technically complete, it’s not necessary for it to go on and on and on. Consider limiting yourself to a finite number of tasks after the initial list is complete. You may feel like there’s always room for improvement, but as we already covered, that isn’t necessarily true. Different isn’t always better.
3. Do you feel like you achieved your vision? If not, will these nit-picky changes actually get you closer? This question can be tricky because visions can shift during the creative process, but really try to sit with this question. If you tweak the color in your movie one more time, does that actually get you closer to your vision? 
4. Will these changes impact the audience? Sometimes, small, line-level changes matter. Sometimes they don’t. Try to genuinely ask yourself if these nit-picky tasks you’re doing will actually impact the audience. More often than not, you’ll find that they won’t. 

If you’re really struggling with putting away a project, it may be time for some tough love. It can be emotionally difficult to walk away with a long-term project for a myriad of reasons, but eventually, it has to be done. My best advice? Start working on the next thing. You’ll be amazed by how much you learned from your last project, and maybe this time you’ll create something even better, because your skills have come so far.

Happy creating!