Calling all perfectionists...it's about PROGRESS not PERFECTION

Welcome to the Author Audience show, the podcast that helps you reach more people with your message. Create a book, connect with your audience, change lives. Here's your host, Shelly Hitz.

I'm calling all perfectionists today. It's about progress, not perfection, right? Hi, my name is Shelly Hitz, the author coach@she shellyhits.com I'm the creator of Author Audience Academy, and I'm on a mission to help you reach more people with your message. I started painting this last weekend. I shared in an earlier training that my nieces inspired me to paint, and I started painting this weekend, and I've painted some really fun things. I brought a couple of them that I want to show with you or show to you. So here are a few of my paintings I've done this weekend. Here's one here. Here's another one. This one says, there's beauty in simplicity. It's not perfectly done, but I did that one. I did these two for my branding Shine on based upon Matthew 5. And then I made this card for my niece. My sister wanted her to have some things for when she goes into middle school this fall. And so this one just says, be brave and courageous. Isn't that fun? So I've been having so much fun, and sometimes when you get into a project, you're writing a book, you're doing something, you're just like, yes, this is awesome. And then sometimes you hit this roadblock where you're just like, okay, this is not perfect. I want to quit. I want to give up. This is too hard. And I had one of those moments today, and I just find it ironic. I mean, it's almost like God's sense of humor with me, because this is the one I was actually painting. Says progress, not perfection. And you can see here, there's this big mess up right here. And I was just finishing it, and I was just adding a little bit of extra, like, white on here. And, like, I was using this pen for the first time, and it just went bleh. And I just got upset, and I was like, ugh. And I tried to wash it off. I'm like, it's ruined. And I just. I stomped over to the trash can and I threw it in the trash. And my husband's like, shelly, take a breath. You know, you're going to have moments like that. You're going to have times where things don't work out like you want it to work out, where you're practicing, you're learning. And how many of you know that when you're an author. When you're a writer, when you're a publisher, you're publishing books, there's a learning curve. And sometimes you're going to have moments where something just doesn't go right and you're just like, ugh, I just want to throw out this manuscript. I just want to give up. I don't want to do this anymore. And yet it's about progress, not perfection. You know, I'm not. I don't think I'm going to try to fix this one. I think I'm just going to let it be what it is and try again. But as I practice my handwriting, as I practice my painting, as I practice these things, there are going to be moments that I just don't get it. And I think we just sometimes need to stop to take a deep breath.

And give ourselves some grace. We are the hardest on ourselves, aren't we? And we just tend to be hard on ourselves. And yet there are so many things that we learn by doing that. It's progress. And I always say, like, I recommend that you just continue to inch forward every week on your project versus thinking about. You have to take this big leap that you're inching forward, you're making some kind of progress. That's what I coach my members and author Audience Academy on all the time. Just keep thinking about making progress. Progress inching forward. If you haven't read the book the Compound Effect yet, I encourage you to check it out. It's a great book that talks about this. It's the little consistent actions over time that yield the best results. Now, if I continue to practice my painting and if I continue to practice my handwriting and I continue to practice something every week, guess what? I'm gonna get better. This was a learning experience because I didn't realize that particular pen was going to respond this way. It's going to eventually be better and I'm going to be able to do more. I encourage you today, progress, not perfection. Do the very best you can. Yes, you want quality work. Yes, you want to have the best manuscript, the best book that you can give to the world. But don't beat yourself up and don't give up just because one thing doesn't work out. Whether it's a marketing strategy you've tried and you're just like, ah, it didn't work, or this technology is driving me crazy. Keep going. Now, did any of you notice today that my video here on Facebook Live looks different? I am testing out a new system. And if you are an author audience Academy member and would be interested in having me teach you how to use this system to broadcast from your computer. I'm actually on my computer right now using my webcam, so it'll be interesting to see the quality of it and how it all goes. What are you working on right now? And has perfectionism halted you? Has it stopped you? Because I just encourage you to take the next step, to do the next thing, to do the next right thing, to just do whatever is going to come next for you, for me and my painting, it's just going to be to start a new painting, to keep going, to keep practicing. And I encourage you to do the same. All right, thank you for being here. My name is Shelley Hitz. I'm the creator of authoraudienceacademy.com and I'm on a mission to help you reach more people with your message.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the Author Audience Show. Connect with us online@authoraudience.com where you'll find all the resources mentioned in today's episode. While you're there, grab Shelley's free video training on how to write and publish your book using her Six Step Ascent method. Join us again next week to learn how to reach your audience with your message.