It’s been 10 days since my last blog post. I’m counting because I made a promise to myself to publish 50 blog posts this year, that means at least one post a week. And, I am dragging it.
I continue to write. I have about 5 topics and 3 almost complete drafts in my Notes. But, I’m not satisfied with them. With more blog subscribers, I start to think about how my post can benefit others. Will it make sense to people? Is it even relevant?
I fell into the perfectionism trap.
As working professionals, we want to carefully present ourselves. We think we have one chance and we cannot screw up. So we become anxious and over-prepare. We think about how our words and behaviors might impact our reputation. Since we are our worst critic, what we work on never seems to be good enough.
Oftentimes, the very thought itself prevents us from really showing up or taking actions. It removes us from the flow we are in. Or, worse, we are not present at the moment to really hear ourselves, not even mentioning others.
This is why I decided to just put this post out there. It’s short and it’s what’s present for me.
The truth is before we become really good at something, we need to be willing to be bad and messy. Especially, if it is something new or something we want to master.
- I wouldn’t have learned how to ride a bike if I hadn’t gotten on one and fallen a number of times.
- I wouldn’t have become a great engineer if I hadn’t written bad code with bugs.
- I wouldn’t have become a great leader if I hadn’t admitted that I don’t have all the answers and learned from others.
- My first ever coaching session was with a stranger. He dropped off the call early because he didn’t feel comfortable. Ouch! I kept the note from that session to remind myself how far I’ve come.
Believe it or not, we have ample opportunities to practice. And we don’t die from all the screwups. Until one day, we don’t even think about doing that thing that used to scare us.
Love,
Wen
P.S. One of my goals in 2022 is to grow my blog to 100 subscribers. If you want to read more, please subscribe here