Instead of worrying about exactly what to say and how to say it, how about you just say something?
Anything.
Just let the words out! Because there ARE words inside of you. The problem is –
You refuse to let them out unless they’re polished, and sound just right, “make sense” and paint you as someone who’s perfect.
Except here’s what’s really important to understand:
PEOPLE DON’T LIKE PERFECT!
Perfection will often intimidate people and it will be hard for you to build a strong connection and relationship with them. And as I’m sure you know: relationships are everything when building a business (well, in LIFE, in general!).
This is the reason most people are “star struck” when meeting a celebrity, and why they often can’t hold a decent conversation with them. They’re overwhelmed. They feel inferior. And so they mumble, they say stupid shit, or sometimes they can’t say anything at all!
These celebrities are put on a pedestal and, in your mind, are someone you could never be.
And it makes you feel like shit, right?
It’s not “inspiring”
It’s not empowering
You just feel “less than”. Like you’re not as good as they are. Like you could NEVER be as good as they are.
That’s how your community feels when you pretend to be perfect for them. It’s probably not even intentional on your part, but by obsessively checking for any little spelling or grammatical error on your latest email –
Or always making sure your make-up is flawless –
Or insisting that you MUST have great lighting in your photos –
Well, then you’re setting yourself up for failure.
Because no one WANTS perfect anyway. Fuck perfectionism!
What people really want from you is YOU. The real you. The non-perfect you. Why? Because that’s more relatable to them. They can actually be inspired by you because they can picture themselves in your shoes, living your life.
Want to be considered an “expert”? Be at least one step ahead of your ideal client or community member. That’s it. Just one step, and to them, you are the pro. Even though you likely still have a lot to learn.
Being relatable instead of perfect allows you to build a great relationship with your community. And great relationships is what you want.
Trust me. We don’t care what your hair looks like.
We don’t care that you’ve worn the same shirt 2 days in a row.
We don’t care if your kids are in the background of a photo or video.
We don’t care if you have a spelling error in your Facebook post.
We don’t care if you have food in your teeth.
We don’t care if you “look tired”.
We don’t care if your website isn’t finished.
We don’t care if you haven’t showered in 3 days.
What we DO care about though?
We care about what you have to say!
We care about your support!
We care about your stories!
We care about your generosity!
We care about how genuine you are!
We care about your honesty!
We care about your strategies and tips!
We care about your heart and soul!
We care about how you can help!
We care about your message and your mission!
We care about YOU.
What you say, not how you say it.
Who you are, not how you look.
So please, stop trying to be perfect and instead, realize that to us, you’re perfect just the way you are.
I think perfectionism typically stems from not feeling good enough. It’s like you’re trying to prove something to other people. Like “HEY, I know what I’m doing!”, even though –
And let’s just be honest here –
All of us are just fucking winging it through life.
No one has it all figured out!
Sure, some people know more on one particular subject than another, but that doesn’t mean that that one person is better than the other. It simply means that one of us chose to focus on one thing, while the other chose to focus on something else.
The thing about life is that you’re never done learning anyway. Hence, you can’t truly ever be perfect at everything. There are always new strategies to test out, new ideas to explore. Things are changing constantly, and it’s better to roll with them, then try to tame them and make it appear that you know what’s going to happen.
Because you don’t. No one does. And that’s okay!
Just accept who you are.
Accept WHERE you are.
And accept that you can change and grow and learn and move forward every single day, if you so choose. You are not a tree. You can change locations! You can have different experiences. You can try new things.
One thing that I am commited to in my life is learning. I will never stop learning. I have a personal goal to learn at least one new thing every day. By the end of the year, I have so much more knowledge in my brain! Which means I can help more people. 🙂
Give yourself permission to let go of the idea of being “perfect” and be open to the idea of being you, just as you are. That’s what we really want from you.