Play someone the song before it’s finished. Showing work in progress is how you get braver than your perfectionism.

Perfectionism survives by keeping your work private until it is beyond criticism, which in practice means forever, since nothing ever gets there. Showing something unfinished breaks the loop. You find out the work is not fragile, that people respond to the attempt rather than the polish, and that the fear was about being seen rather than about quality.

Show one unfinished thing this week to one person who is kind but honest. The half-written song, the rough draft, the sketch. Say it is not done, then let them hear it anyway.