The Part of Perfectionism Everyone Struggles With
If I’m being honest with you, writing every day is hard.
Especially considering the parameters I gave myself.
Each post must:
- Be in my own voice
- Have my unique viewpoint
- Be quickly digestible
- Be actionable
When I committed to writing every day, I realized that this was big.
Coming up with a fresh concept, in my own words, that was easy to consume, and that also demanded a discrete action that could be achieved in 2 minutes or less is a pretty difficult challenge.
So, what happened?
Sometimes posts didn’t go out at the right time. I travel a lot so timezones have messed with my automated triggers that send out emails and tweets.
Sometimes I am finishing my workday at a weird hour and I’m exhausted—but I still have to write. It’s painful.
Sometimes I miss typos, fail to get the point across or make the post too short to really communicate the point.
Basically, I fail a lot.
And however much I fail, it feels like I’m failing 10 times that.
The point isn’t to make it perfect. Well, at least not today. Or tomorrow.
The point is to constantly approach the upper limit.
The point is to ride the asymptote of improvement as far over to perfect as I can.
The only way to do that is by writing, reviewing, adapting, testing, getting feedback, and writing again.
The other part is to accept that people are going to criticize what you’re doing, especially you. In fact, you are often your own worst critic.
This is the case for writing and it’s the case for everything else.
There’s no substitute for consistently doing the work.
And you’re not allowed to beat yourself up.
2 Minute Action
What’s something that you’ve been meaning to improve in your life?
- Exercise?
- Marketing your brand?
- Motivating your volunteers?
- Energizing your students in the morning?
Here are some things you can do right now in 2 minutes or less:
- Do burpees for 2 minutes straight. If you can’t, do 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off.
- Send out an email to past clients and ask them to write a testimonial for your brand.
- Pick a measurable outcome that volunteers can see. If they can see how well they’re doing, they are more likely to improve.
- Google “fun facilitation exercises” like “rock, paper, scissors, posse.” You have the whole internet at your fingertips.
How Planning For The Future Can Hurt!
Just in case.
In the future, we might need to connect our software to another app.In the future, we might need to accommodate this new type of encryption for transfers.In the future, we might need to have a data base setup for users to store this special information.
Guess what?
It’s now.It’s not the future.The time and resources you spend building something for 5 or 10 years down the road is most likely going to be wasted.Its really hard to predict how many users, clients, customers, attendees, patients, or students you will have.
In fact, you will most certainly be wrong.
Stop future proof-ing your work.Plan for the reasonable next steps, but STOP looking 5 or more years out and making tactical, EVERYDAY decisions based on what MIGHT happen.Plan for the plan.Then adapt to reality.Don’t take action on all the things that might be.
2 Minute Action
Whats 1 thing that will make tomorrow easier?It can be setting out your workout clothes for the morning.It can be responding to an email or two tonight.It can be looking at your calendar and setting up some tasks for tomorrow.Pick one thing and go for it.Front-load the work and you will hit the ground running.
The 3 Things Required To Master Life
Before I get this going, I need to say something really important.This whole thing is really simple to understand but hard to implement.This is one of those things that just takes a lifetime.That said . . .
1 - Awareness
Understand that there's a problem, a change, an opportunity. Identify and define.
2 - Acceptance
Realize that this is a reality. This does not mean you are complacent with the reality--only that you understand it's realness. Most of the battle for most people is fought here. Shortening the distance between awareness and action is one of the most critical skills we can develop.
3 - Action
These are the strategies and real-world tactics you take to move you from one state of existence to another. It happens after you make a choice to commit to action.
2 Minute Action
Pick an issue in your life right now.It doesn't matter if it's good or bad.Run that problem through this 3 step exercise.Have you used this framework or a similar one before?Let me know what's worked for you or how this new approach feels different.