99: Progress Over Perfection: Our Podcast in Action

Aim for progress, not perfection. Because again, that understanding and figuring out actually comes in the doing. It does not come before you begin.

I'm Bonnie Christine and this is where all things creativity, design, business and marketing unite. I'm a mama living in a tiny town tucked right inside the Smoky Mountains, running a multi seven figure business, doing the most creative and impactful work of my life. But when I first set out to become an entrepreneur, I was struggling to make ends meet and wrestling with how to accomplish my biggest dream of becoming a fabric designer. Fast forward to today. I'm not only licensing my artwork all over the world, but also teaching others how to design their creative life and experience the same success.

Success.

I'm here to help you spend your life doing something that lights you up. I'll help you build a creative business that also creates an impact, changes people's lives, gives you all of the freedom you want, and is wildly profitable. Welcome to the Professional Creative Podcast.

Today we're going to talk about a concept called Goldilocking. And now I have to give all the credit for this term to Kate Aarons from Wit and Delight. And as soon as I read about it, it really resonated with me, specifically around how I started this podcast. But before we dive in, let me read this to you from Kate. She says, I began looking for all the ways I would goldilock in my daily life. Where was my time going? Where was my going? I was spending hours thinking about the work I was going to do, and by the time I was done getting everything just right, I had no energy to make the very thing that had passed all of my requirements in the first place. When I see myself goldilocking, I know it's time to just make a decision to go with my intuition and start. I've learned I figure things out by being in them, by making the leap, starting the essay, putting the concept together, the flow comes and the thing gets done. In other words, so many of us wait for everything to be perfect before we begin doing anything. That's called goldilocking. And we need to start doing instead of trying to get everything perfect before we simply start. Now, I'm guessing that you have an idea right now around something that you're goldilocking in. And the reason that I'm talking about it today is because this is episode number 99, which means next episode we're going to be celebrating 100 episodes. And boy, did I goldilock so hard with this very podcast. Listen, Goalie locking is such a common struggle for us as creative entrepreneurs. I think it stems from very deeply caring about the work that we do. And we kind of lead with some hesitancy and some overthinking because truly, for most of us, at the end of the day, our name is on our work and we care about it a lot. So. So way back in episode number 11, I shared a bit about what it took to start this podcast. It was a very in the moment snapshot about how it came to be. But I also wanna talk today about some of the barriers that I faced. Initially, I was hesitant to start. I very much struggled with imposter syndrome. I felt like I should have started a podcast, you know, five years ago or 10 years ago. And everyone was way ahead of me. Right. It felt really saturated to me. I overthought the format. I wanted everything to be perfect. I thought about the name for this podcast for at least a year. I have notes and notes and notes about what I thought the name could be. I was looking for the perfect tech setup. You know, I wanted the perfect mic and the perfect room to do it in. And I was just holding back because the conditions weren't just right.

Now.

I still feel this way about so many different things, but I've come to recognize it more quickly and try to identify what the turning point is that will help me kind of get out of this hesitation and just start doing.

I want you to just imagine what

it would feel like to hold your

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Now, for me, there were two things that very much helped me get out of Goldilocking when it came to this very podcast. Number one was our favorite Lisa Jacobs. And if you go back and listen to episode number 92, I had her do this episode called you'd Bags are Packed, because it was the very line that she used with me when I was hemming and hawing and goldilocking over beginning the the podcast. She said, listen, your bags are packed. It's time to go. And so I did. The other thing was that Immersion Live 2022 was just around the corner when I was planning on starting the podcast. And I wanted so very badly to be able to announce it to this crowd, announce it to the people who are at the conference. And it was just the right kind of external pressure to kind of give me a swift kick in the rear. So I dec to take the plunge. And with the support of people in my life, which is so incredibly important, we dove in. So we're now nearing the 100th episode, and, you know, conditions still don't feel just right. I've learned a lot and I've made a lot of improvements, but, you know, we're still kind of figuring it all out. I've got a couple of different podcast setups, but right now I'm actually sitting in a closet because I'm not at home.

I have a nice podcast setup at

my house, and I have a nice podcast set up at my studio. But then I also have a travel podcast setup, which is what I'm using right now. And you know what? It works. I'm still having fun. I'm still figuring it out. We've been up and down some different editing, you know, features and platforms, and we're still just figuring it out. And I think that the most important takeaway is that the figuring out comes in the doing. It doesn't come before you simply start. And it's 100% been worth it. And I'll be sharing in all the different ways that it's been worth it in the very next episode. So stay tuned for episode number one. Hundred where I'll be talking more about this podcast and the milestones that we've hit and also some things that I've developed because of it and just celebrate with you this incredible milestone. So for this episode, I want to stick to this concept of Goldilocking and how to really overcome it. So number one is just to start witnessing your own behavior, meaning recognize the signs of you when you begin to goldilocks. So identify those symptoms. This could be things like procrastination or endless research or hesitancy to announce it publicly or just put a date on the calendar. And then the next step is to go ahead and do that. Set yourself a deadline. The importance of creating this sense of urgency for yourself really works on me, and I have a hunch that it'll work on you as well. But one step beyond just setting the deadline is to also announce it publicly. Because if you're like me, you won't disappoint people. So set a deadline and then announce it publicly that you have a surprise coming or something to share. Or maybe you go ahead and share what it is and what date it's coming. That way you've created a deadline for yourself with a sense of urgency. And then step number three is to just begin taking small steps. You know, the importance of just doing one thing every day is how you break down that big project into really tangible and manageable tasks. Tip. Number four is just to eliminate the perfectionism. Aim for progress, not perfection. Because again, that understanding and figuring out actually comes in the doing. It does not come before you begin. Number five is to find someone who can help you stay accountable. An accountability partner is someone to help keep you on track and just be that person for you, to keep you, you know, checking in and on progress. And it's incredible. Number six is to face the fear, overcoming mental barriers and really developing that doing it afraid anyways is one of the things that you'll really have to get used to doing more and more. I'm thinking about Mindy Young who shared at Immersion Live, and one of the things she said that it was a huge takeaway for me was I looked fear in the face and I ran towards it. And so many times we have to do things afraid. I think we're waiting for the fear to go away, but when we realize that it's not going to go away, or the only way to make it go away is to run towards it and face it. Finally, number seven is to celebrate all of your small wins. The importance of celebrating even your most minor achievements will help you build confidence and stay moving forward. So thank you, Kate Aarons, for this concept, helping us put words to something that we do so often and how to really overcome Goldilocking. Now, I would love for you to think about one thing that you're goldilocking in today and start using these tips to really work through it. Don't forget to join us for the next episode, episode 100, where I'll be sharing my reflections on 100 episodes of the Professional Creative. I can't wait to meet you there, my friends. Create the beauty that you want to see come alive in the world and

remember, there's room for you.