Do you want to be fearless with your writing? Do you want to be able to get into the flow and produce article after article?
Sometimes it feels like I’m allergic to writing. It seems like I’ll never fill that blank paper staring back at me with killer content.
But does your writing really have to be awesome all of the time? I’m beginning to think that maybe it doesn’t.
All this talk of being remarkable, standing out and making a difference can be extremely constipating, because you become so self-conscious of what you’re doing.
The simple act of being yourself and doing your best IS being remarkable. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks.
It’s YOUR journey. You decide what you want to do. I’ve found myself looking at others many times, but I’ve found it counter-productive.
In the end, you have to find your own groove and do your own thing. There are people out there that want to consume what you feel inspired to write about.
When you look at other successful entrepreneurs, writers and creative men and women, you’ll often see that they’ve spent years working on what they love.
This doesn’t happen overnight, but the more you do the things you like doing, the closer you will get to your true voice and who you really are. That’s what matters.
Dealing with the Fear
Whatever is worth doing will stretch you out of your comfort zone, which is exactly why it’s crucial that you learn how to overcome your fears. The difference between the great and the merely good is that the great feel the fear, acknowledge it and keep moving forward.
This is something Seth Godin talks a lot about in his book Linchpin. If you haven’t read it yet, you probably should. I put off reading it for a long time, but I just bought it and it’s great.
When I started writing on the Wake Up Cloud, everything was easy. It was as if I was floating downstream. As my audience has grown, I’ve started to hit more bumps and twists. The ride is not all smooth anymore.
For me, one of the main reasons is fear. I have a larger audience, so I feel pressured to produce better and better content.
Accepting Imperfection
But I’ve realized that perfection isn’t necessary to write a good blog. Just look at other bloggers who’ve been around for a long time.
They have a lot of readers, and they are nowhere near perfect. The important key is to get your stuff out there. There’s no need to spend hours rewriting your article to make it perfect.
Because what is perfect? Perfect for you is merely in your head. You have no idea what someone else likes or dislikes.
What if you wrote an article that could change someone’s life, but then you rewrote it. Let yourself be imperfect, it’s easier and enjoyable.
Authenticity is Key
There’s something about a person that doesn’t get bogged down in the details. They know they didn’t write that sentence perfectly, but they also know that it is enough to get the point across.
I’ve always believed that the more you show people who you really are, the more you will attract the right people into your life.
If you try to be perfect, how can people relate to you? Perfection blocks creativity and spontaneity. Everyone talks about being authentic, of being an artist, but in order to be those things, we have to let go of the fear and the perfection that has been programmed into us.
Your readers won’t care if you’re perfect. In fact, if there’s anything I’ve learned it is that the more you are able to be who you truly are, the more you’ll draw the right people to you.
Now, we could argue that we’re all perfect in our imperfection, but that’s not my point here. I am not here for that. I am here to get a point across.
You are perfect as you are. I like you as imperfect. Just words. Be yourself, with quirks and all.
You Are Not Psychic
Let’s face it, most of us aren’t psychic. We can’t possibly know what our readers want. Sure, we can know some of it, but most of the time we’re just guessing.
I have felt horrible about many posts I have written, but after hitting publish, I’ve come to realize that what I think doesn’t really matter.
As long as I do my best and put my thoughts out there, it will take care of itself. You see, most of the time when I feel like my articles aren’t worth the virtual paper they were written on, my readers will still like it and I will even get e-mails from people thanking me.
Realizing that your writing doesn’t have to be magical to make a difference will take a huge weight off your shoulders.
Do your best and get your thoughts, experiences and gifts out to the world.
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Hey Henri,
Great post. I like this message, and I have listened to you saying this in other posts and comments and it has helped me a lot. I have ‘unplugged’ some of my fear and definitely feel a lot better about writing recently. I sometimes worry because my problem is that I am not a perfectionist but that I rush things and I know my grammar isn’t always great,. At the same time I am getting good feedback about my writing from my readers and this spurs me on. Personally I think as long as I am getting my message across and my writing isn’t too incorrect, I can learn as I go. I think sometimes we forget that life is a process and we can only excel at something by doing it and learning. Thanks for being a great example. 🙂
Hey Henri,
I liked this post a lot. This is something I’m finding that I”m struggling with a lot, but at the end of the day, the best I can do is share what I’m doing and what is working and what hasn’t. I can’t give advice that I haven’t followed myself.
Hey Henri,
Fellow third triber here. I think you highlight some of the essentials to overcoming fear very well in this post. It is funny because I just wrote a post on my blog dealing with conquering fear and one of the things I note is how sneaky fear can be, sometime you don’t recognize that your afraid. You mentioned something that made me curious though, and that is, how you started out with a small audience. How long did it take you to build and audience where fear was triggered?
I can’t quite remember. I have grown quite fast, but what I do remember is that at some point I ran into that mini-wall of fear. It’s melting away now though and my creativity has been unleashed once more, so all is well 😉
Ah, Henri, yet another important post in a long line of your writing.
In my case, however, I am psychic. For example, I can read my girl-friend’s mind: she is a dumb blonde who wants to milk me dry for every damn penny I ever earned and then scram with the boy next door, who looks like Blackbeard the pirate. And his breath always smells of whiskey, not that I would ever know about it. Just guessing.
See what I mean? Just like you said, writing is a tricky business, and sometimes you don’t really know what your readers expect from you. Sometimes, my readers “get” my jokes and laugh out loud. At other times, I have to remind my readers to laugh at my jokes, and that’s when you know your writing is yesterday’s news.
I always used to dream of emulating famous comedians and humor writers, but then my pen went limp in my hand. I have suffered from writer’s block as many times as Tiger Woods has had to suffer through the numerous women in his life.
And when my jokes bomb at the box office, I finally understand why the tennis champion(?) Andre Agassi chose to smoke a crack pipe instead of returning home to Brooke Shields: that marriage could only be “made in heaven.” Cheers to you!
If you set out to try to please everybody, you usually end up pleasing nobody and no matter how well you write, there will always be those who don’t like it.
It is much easier to just be yourself. People who would like you if they met you will like your writing and they will find you. Why worry about the others?
Rich
Hey Henri,
Thank you for writing this post. I’m rather new to the blogging community and I always feel anxiety over putting out a new post. I put so much pressure on myself to write the “perfect” post that will attract people. Like you said, however, just being myself is enough. Writing what I’m passionate about will naturally attract the right people.
Thank you again,
Ben
Wow, thank you Henri. I was just contemplating the draft I have queued up for my next post. Knowing my readers basically from their About pages and topics of interest, I wondered if my next article was pertinent to them. It feels better to offer what I know — if it serves my readers great, if not, I hope I can help or serve them down the road.
Speaking as one of your readers Kim, just knowing that you have us mind makes all the difference.
Something that you might also want to try is keeping one of your readers in mind when you’re writing your post. This helps me get into the flow.
Often you may be blocking yourself by thinking about all of your readers together. That is what I noticed was happening to me a lot.
The point about accepting imperfection is a good one and something I continue to grow with. Your point about rewriting articles is something I’ll remember.
I struggle often with the desire to be “transparent” and then on the other hand, the feeling that I must maintain a professional image.
I’m leaning more to just allowing myself to be myself, cuss-words and all. It’s just difficult to let loose! But I’m trying.
Thanks for the encouragement, Henri!
Thanks for another great article that couldn’t have come at a better time for me personally. I’ve been experiencing writer’s block of late, and you’ve definitely helped me pinpoint and identify some if not all of the contributing factors.
You couldn’t be more right in your remarks about how striving for perfection holds one back, and that perfection and greatness are two very different things.
Well done! I submitted the post to Mixx I was so impressed with it.
Hi Henri!
Got here through Blogussion, checked out your post relating to Maiden awesome job man! Loved this post as well, thanks for sharing all this you can really help me a lot man! 🙂
Nicely put. I’ve been taking on the “mantle” of writer over the last two years, and it is feeling very comfortable. But getting blocked happens! For me, it’s the stress of daily life that hammers my motivation and magnifies my fears. Getting around that can be very difficult. But I’m working on it, and Wake Up Cloud is definitely helping! Thanks!
I do get fed up of writing at times. Nice post. I love this.
“This doesn’t happen overnight”…
Since you mentioned it, you could also write an article named “There is no such thing as success in 10 days”, or something like that. There are a lot of commercials these days over the net trying to convince people they can become millionaires in less than a month, with minimum effort and involvement. If you already did that, I apologize. I’m quite new here and still have a lot to read here 🙂
Thanks. It’s fairly evocative. Just recently, I discovered that some components have been freakly missed out in my life so far. I’m always avid at realising other people’s wish on me (and I’ve succeeded on that, and then forgot what I want myself to be). When writing in school, what I had been doing was putting down materials that sound right to the topic, not what I really thought. Now, the severe consequence is, I’ve lost my own voice. For an issue I saw in news, I cannot even say straightforwardly whether I agree or disagree. Only vague memories and superficial understanding are floating in my mind. I guess I’m over self-conscious at writing, at many other things probably, and an irremediable perfectionist (earlier I thought being a perfectionist is sth one should be proud of! However, it makes me slow in responding). I keep on reading in my spare time too. I think that will improve my writing skills. But once away from those books, I cannot recall a single complete sentence. People always consider I’m that sort of smart girl, because I look smart, dress smart and behave so too. That’s what people ask me to do, even though in fact I’m just an ordinary human being. I feel so lost and burdened.