How To Fight Perfectionism* As A Content Creator

Hi everyone, it's Sheryl Plouffe here, video marketing consultant and coach, and we're gonna wait just a couple seconds to get some people on live with us here on Facebook Live. Really excited to be talking to you guys today about this topic because this is a topic that literally affects pretty much everyone, and that is the sense of perfectionism that we all suffer from. We all suffer from this idea that, oh, it's gotta be perfect, otherwise it's not worth doing. I'm talking particularly in relation to putting yourself out there, creating content, being visible, being seen, and all of the things that really help you to grow your business or grow your enterprise or whatever it is that you're doing in terms of building an audience. So thank you guys for coming on. I'm seeing the numbers coming up. Thank you for the thumbs up. I really appreciate that. Listen, we're going to talk about how to fight perfectionism. We all suffer from this, and I'm going to tell you, even if you're scared shitless to put yourself out there, I'm gonna tell you a few tips here today that I think, well, at least I hope will help change your mindset about this idea of perfectionism. I also like to call it, hi everybody, I also like to call it, you know, comparacitis. We all suffer from this idea that we compare ourselves to others, other people's videos, other people's content, what other people are doing. I do it too. We all suffer from this. But the thing is, is that if we continue to hang on to this idea of perfectionism, it's gonna hold us back. It's gonna hold you back. You're not gonna be able to grow the way I want you to grow. Hi, Lori, how are you? And let's see, we've got Jordan, Madi, Lori's here. We had a great conversation yesterday. Thank you so much for your time. Grant is on. Even a selfie needs to be perfect. No, no, no, no, no, my friend. Thank you, Grant, for being here. So this is how to fight perfectionism. How to put yourself out there even if you're scared shitless, really. And perfectionism, I'm gonna give you an example before I give you my 3 tips today. As I was preparing to do this live video, this one right here, I had a little light, I don't know if you can see it, right there, that was on. And as I was setting it up, it was casting this weird glow and I thought, "No, I'm just gonna go up," and I turned the light off. Sat back down and got ready to press go live and it's kind of dark in the background. I thought, I don't know, it's kind of dark in the back. So that's when the perfectionism started to creep in and I knew it was like, okay, well, I could either not do the video, I could really use that as an excuse. I could look at that and say, oh, the background's too dark, I just can't do this video, it's not perfect, right? I don't know if you can see, but over on that table over there, there's a bunch of stuff on that dining room table. It's okay. The important thing is that I want to get this message out to you. I'm just using this as an example, but sometimes what we do is we look at the circumstances that we're in, or the lack of resources, or whatever the case may be, as an excuse in which not to do the thing we know we ought to do. How many of you can relate to that? Just let me know in the comment section below. Hi Tim, how are you? Let me know in the comment section if you can relate to this idea that we sometimes are looking for excuses not to do the thing we ought to do. Okay. Hi Kathleen, how are you? So listen, I want to give you 3 kind of concepts, tips if you will, to fight perfectionism. Tip number 1 is that perfectionism is unattainable in and of itself. In and of perfect, perfection, it is unattainable. You know, when we look at there's really no use in fighting it because we can't attain perfectionism. The thing is, is that when we compare ourselves to others, it's really easy to fall back on that. So we have to say to ourselves, make it— my husband has a great saying and he says, "Make it good, then make it great." And I think that that is a motto that we should all live by, that we should be happy with with good. It doesn't have to be great or perfect. If it's good, then it's good to go. Maybe think of it that way. If it's good, it's good to go. Lori says, yes, for sure, it can stop us from growth. Absolutely. So this idea of perfection being in and of itself unattainable should be the first clue that it ought not to stop you from progressing with creating that video or posting that image or whatever the case may be. It's about growth and it is about kind of moving forward and progressing, making it good and then progressing and making it maybe great down the road. Maybe it's a year from now, right? Grant Jordan, do your best to stand out is great. Yes. So number 2, perfection is unrelatable. Now, I think of someone like Beyoncé and Jennifer Lopez, two women who I look at and just go, ooh, drop dead gorgeous, absolutely perfect, beautiful. You know, we are fascinated by celebrities and fascinated by people who, you know, quote-unquote, are almost as close to perfect as possible, but it's totally unrelatable. So what that really means for you as you create content is that if you're striving, you know, for what is unrelatable, you're not going to be able to have that connection with people that you might like to have, right? Build connections on social media. Social media is all about connection, and if you're kind of putting yourself out there as being unrelatable, then, you know, it's it's gonna be more difficult for people to really, um, make that connection with you. And number 3 is sometimes we just never get started to avoid the pain, the challenge, the obstacles, the frustration that we might encounter by things not being perfect. And then what happens is we just never ever take that step to start. Typically, the first step is always the hardest. It'll never be as hard as the first step, whether you're making a video or putting out a message or what have you. Instead, think that with every challenge there's a lesson. With every challenge there's a lesson and there's growth. And that's really what you should be striving for. Not perfectionism, but just striving for progress and growth, learning from your mistakes, putting it out there anyway and saying to yourself, okay, you know what, next time I'll do it this way. So it goes from being good to being great, possibly, right? So I hope those are helpful tips for you. It's more of a mindset shift, I think, than anything. This idea of putting in you know, parking the perfectionism. I'm guilty of it too. I really am. Like, I do think that we should put our best foot forward. I think there's a balance between, you know, putting your best foot forward and really kind of trying to, you know, you don't want to look like you just rolled out of bed, but at the same time, we're not Beyoncé and we're not Jennifer Lopez. It's okay. We need to just still put our messages out there nevertheless. Hi Dave! Haha! Imperfection is perfect. Ah, you're so sweet. That's great. I love that. Jordan says, that comes with consistency, seeing what you can improve on each time. Good point. The minute you stop working, you lose your touch. Yes, it is about that. With consistency, you get more practice, right? Consistency is important from a lot of standpoints, but when you are consistent, you can consistently continue to learn lessons and grow. So good point. Great. Lori says, perfectionism can cause stress and harm your health. You know what, Lori, good point. I, um, not so much on the topic of perfectionism but on the topic of stress, I can share a quick story. You know, when I was doing my management job for a few years, I was under a lot of stress. Stress is a really, really bad thing, and I went to a holistic healer at one point to say, what's going on with me? Why am I falling apart? And she said, you have too much stress and you have to reduce the stress. So she put me on this tox, detox diet, and within about a couple of weeks I had a huge rash that developed on the side of my rib cage, and I didn't know it was related to that. I had no idea. But anyway, I had mentioned it to her, and she said, "Oh, those are the stress chemicals in your body that are trying to escape." And it was like literally, it was oozing out of me. I thought, if that's what stress can do, then that's really, really bad. We need to, which actually was one of the catalysts for me. It really kind of drove me even more to want to get to the place where I am today where I don't have that kind of level of stress and, you know, being able to, you know, do my own thing. So stress is bad. Perfectionism, I think, could lead to, you know, stressful thoughts because we put so much pressure on ourselves. How many of you believe we put too much pressure on ourselves? Let me know in the comments or with a show of thumbs up. Let's see. Oh, thanks, Madi, for sharing my video. I appreciate that. Those of you who are on live and those of you who are maybe watching this video after the fact, because I am going to put this up on YouTube and on my podcast, Personal Brand Breakthrough, and I'll have this obviously on Facebook and such, you can go to CherylPlouffe.com and look there for, just changed a few of my giveaways, but I've got a free webinar there that will show you my 5-step video fast-track method. So that's free for you to take advantage of on my website at CherylPlouffe.com. And also, I'm going to have some more free giveaways coming up for you a little bit later on too. So I'm working on some stuff behind the scenes. So it's exciting stuff. Jordan says, "We are our own worst critics." "It comes with being creative." Absolutely, I think creative people do have a tendency to maybe do that a little bit more. Holly, hi Holly. "I put way too much pressure on myself. My own expectations are sometimes unattainable." Yeah, although Holly, I do have to give you credit because you've been doing a lot of video lately and I think you're doing great at it, so clearly it's not holding you back. And I'm proud of you for that. I'm proud of you for saying, you know what, I'm just gonna barrel through. If you are suffering from some high expectations on yourself, it's not showing through in the amount of content that you're putting out there, so I congratulate you on that. That's a celebration because you're fighting through that internal dialogue that's probably happening there. Kathleen says, Cheryl, many are afraid of negative comments. How do you deal with those? Hmm, actually it's funny because I just had this discussion with my clients this morning. You cannot help it. I mean, there are always going to be a few haters, you know, and the thing I think maybe ultimately that would help Kathleen is just to, you have to have a very strong why statement in terms of why you're doing what you're doing. Like if you are very solid, I'm doing this for, you know, X, Y, and Z and nothing can stop me, sometimes you kinda gotta get angry a little bit and be like, no way, I'm not gonna let anyone get me down. You've got to get fiercely committed, fiercely dedicated, and almost, yeah, you have to kind of get fierce about it in your mind. And I think that sometimes what we can do is we can diffuse the haters, you know, be like, oh, you know, that's okay if you feel that way, I feel differently, we agree to disagree. You know, there's ways I think to get around that, but it's more of a mindset thing, Kathleen, and it's— listen, I actually look at it as a good thing. When you start Hearing a few negative comments, I get them too. I think what it indicates is that you're reaching people. You know, you're actually getting your message out. And if you can polarize a little bit, it's actually a good thing because it helps you to really talk to the right audience and target the proper audience for you. Jordan says, "Can't please everyone." No, you won't. It's impossible. Darren says, "I may have missed something, but this sounded more about self-esteem than perfectionism." Yeah, I guess they're related. Absolutely, Darren. You know, they're very much related because often, you know, people are striving for perfectionism because they're lacking self-esteem, right? So I think there's a huge connection there. Good point. Holly says, oh, well, thank you, Holly. I appreciate that. Darren says, you can be the juiciest, ripest peach ever, but not everyone likes peaches. Good point. So there you go. Great comments, you guys. I think you're on the right track. You know, you're sort of seeing that this is a common experience that we all have. I suffer from it too, but what I do to the best of my ability is to try to just calm those thoughts, put them aside, park them so that I can get on with the business at hand. All right? So thank you guys so much for participating with me today. I am going to leave you guys, but I would advise you to go to my website at CherylPlouffe.com. Look for the free giveaway there. It's a free webinar where you'll learn my video fast-track method. So essentially it's how to save a bunch of time and stress and frustration in creating videos. I think it's very helpful, and you want to go and take advantage of that, please do so. And thank you for the hearts, I like that. Maybe I'll just wait for the hearts. Hmm, hmm, yay for hearts! Okay, thank you guys so much. This video will be on Facebook, it will be on my YouTube channel, you can subscribe to the podcast, the video or audio podcast on iTunes or if you're on Android you can do that as well. So it's Personal Brand Breakthrough is the name of the show. I really appreciate, aww, I love the hearts on Facebook, thank you guys, and the thumbs up, makes me happy inside. So I appreciate your time today. I hope you guys will go out there and think to yourselves next time you are about to do a video or about to post an image and you're like, eh, it's not quite perfect, put it out there. If it's good, then put it out and aim for greatness,