Alexander Hamilton said,
I never expect to see a perfect work from an imperfect man.
You can do years of research. You can slave over your draft for days. You can edit until the cyber paper crumbles from all the hard eraser marks.
Your work will never be perfect.
Stop chasing perfection.
You’ll never hit it.
There will always be:
- a typo you overlooked
- an awkwardly constructed sentence
- a vital point you left out.
Don’t worry about it.
You say, “Frank, I’m a perfectionist. I have to polish my work until it shines!”
I understand. I’m a recovering, struggling perfectionist myself.
I gave it up when I realized all that hard work made my writing worse.
It’s time to get real.
Readers today are scanners first. They’ll never see that typo. They’ll gloss over that sentence that isn’t perfect.
Readers are looking for answers to their problems. Chances are they don’t know as much about your subject as you do. Isn’t that why they came to your blog?
Embrace your imperfection. You might as well, right? It’s not going away. Remember this – we’re all imperfect. Even the experts.
Chase excellence instead. Excellence is within your grasp. Set a goal you can hit with a little effort, and you’ll master your craft.
Here are three ways you can embrace your imperfection and do your best work.
Don’t aim for perfection. Chase excellence instead. Click To Tweet
Start Whether You’re Ready or Not
Perfectionism is a cruel master.
Here’s how it tortures you:
- “Why don’t you tweak that paragraph one more time?”
- “That sentence sounds dumb. Maybe you should write it over.”
- “You didn’t include all the facts. Don’t you want to be thorough?”
Your inner critic will manipulate you, abuse you, and make you feel worthless. It will suck you into a whirlpool of despair that threatens to consume you. And if you let it, it will keep you from writing at all.
It’s time you took your power back.
Start by setting shorter time limits.
- Write the draft as fast as you can.
- Don’t edit longer than an hour for every 500 words.
- Once you’re done, publish – and don’t look back.
Your writing will never be perfect. Be helpful, and you’ll do your best work. Click To Tweet
Michelangelo said,
The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.
Don’t worry about the numbers. Don’t go for clicks that lead nowhere. Aim to engage your reader with something that will change his life.
Your reader will:
- come back for more
- share your work
- follow your suggestions
Aim high, and you’ll do your best work.
That is as close to perfect as any of us will get.
Write What Scares You
Steve Brown says,
“If you wonder whether you or not you should say something, you probably should.”
“What does he mean by that?” you say. “I don’t want to get into trouble.”
I know.
You might ruffle some feathers.
You might piss someone off.
And you’ll write your best work ever.
Take a stand – and don’t back down no matter how much you want to. Say something controversial and helpful. Sometimes you need to shock people to get their attention.
Now let’s get to the bottom line.
Above All, Be Helpful
Here are three ways you can help someone with every blog post you write.
- Solve a problem that has kept them up at night for days, weeks, or even years.
- Give them hope that what they want is within their grasp.
- Show them steps they can take now to move them forward.
Follow these steps and your content will always be worth reading.
- Share it on social media or email.
- Leave a comment about how it helped.
- Subscribe to this blog and get helpful tips on improving your writing straight to your email.
Photo Credit: FotoMediamatic Flickr via Compfight cc
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