WAITING FOR PERFECTION

I hate to say "we all do this" because I don't like painting everyone with the same brush but the longer I work in my biz the more and more I see this story playing out. I am a super content lady with oodles of self-esteem. No one would ever accuse me of being under-confident. So how come I still have the "waiting for perfection" bug? If I believe in myself as much as I think I really and truly do why does this bug keep showing up? I believe that what I offer is fricking gold and I know my clients move mountains as a result of working with me but still this "waiting for perfection" bug has infected me and antibiotics simply don't do the trick!

So, let's put it out there and see if this resonates. And by the way I'm not going to say what everyone seems to say on this topic either - that we all suffer from procrastination and don't publish things because we don't think they're good enough - whether it's a website or a sales page or an fb ad or an online course. That's not what this is about. This is about the journey itself.

I had an epiphany this month having worked with a lady called Sharon Little who is a member of my Monday night coaching group in the UK and specialises in Access Bars (she's a wonder and a very gifted lady and if you want to know more you should check her out). I explained to her that I hadn't yet launched my newly rebranded and awesome Academy on it's new platform and I didn't understand what was stopping me - you see there was always something else I needed to tidy up or proof-read. So she worked with me and a few days later I had my flash of understanding.

Here it is - The "waiting for perfection" bug is all fine and dandy but here's the truth of the matter - we are further ahead on our journey than those who follow us.  

It's that simple. 

That's all there is - that's it. Full stop. Done and dusted. As soon as you accept that, you will be able get your message out into the world because the people who follow you don't care if there's a typo or if the design of something could be sassier, they are simply grateful for you sharing your knowledge of what the path looks like a little further ahead.

Two weeks ago I was creating a sales funnel mindmap to release to a FB group I help out in. I kept holding back from releasing it because I didn't like the design layout of the mindmap and I knew I do better given a bit more time. Then on the Friday morning I had my little blast of understanding and I released it. Immediately I was swamped with messages and comments saying how awesome it was, how generous I was, how this was super helpful and exactly what they needed - I felt on cloud nine! It didn't stop there either, I am still receiving comment and message over two weeks later and I've signed up three unlimited package clients - all because we are further ahead on our journey than those who follow us - even if what we release to the world isn't very most highest oh goodness excellence we could produce ever doesn't mean it isn't going to help shed-loads of people - your message is gold! Share it!

Our followers are slightly behind us on the path - that's why they are called followers after all - so they need our gold and really don't need it to be shiny and spangly. That doesn't affect the knowledge that you are sharing does it? Whether it's on gold card or a crumply piece of paper - the info will help them the same :)

This afternoon I received another email in a sequence that someone was sending me trying to get me sign up to their offering and you know what that email said? I was giggling when I opened it (bearing in mind this guy proclaims to be top of his game etc etc) it said -

"Dear Friend,

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat."

You see even the self proclaimed no longer "waiting for perfection" guys out there make mistakes, they miss something and they have to catch it and fix it - I got an email 18 minutes later with an apology :) And did it affect how I respect him - not one bit! And did it affect the knowledge he is sharing with me? Not one bit.

So you see my epiphany is nice and straightforward and simple. Because really that's all there is. We are further ahead on our journey than those who follow us. So stop waiting for perfection like I was doing and share your beautiful and totally fabulous message no matter what form it's taking today, because there's always tomorrow to add some more sparkle if you really feel you need to xx