It’s not about being perfect

We were praised in high school for getting straight As. It was all about dotting your i’s and crossing your t’s, and following instructions to nth degree.You’d get penalties for spelling mistakes and not formatting your paper right. For not handing in a paper on time or being late to class. The school system is designed to streamline you to be as “perfect” as you can.

School Ruined Blogging

So it’s no wonder many of us are afraid of blogging. It’s not that we don’t know what to write, or that it will take us too long, we’re worried that it won’t be good enough. That it won’t be perfect. That someone will call us up and say, “

I can’t believe you wrote that. What were you thinking

?”That fear is enough to put the “do a blog post” on the back burn, eternally.And who’s to blame?

That’s what we’ve been taught, that’s how we’ve been educated.

Perfect Can Kill Your Business

The sad part is that while perfection was great in school, it can be detrimental to your business. If you work for yourself, chances are you’ve considered doing a blog, or someone has suggested you do a blog, or you’ve actually started a blog. And chances are that you’ve also stopped, or don’t blog as much as you could.

Why?

I used to think it was because we all have writer’s block. Then I was talking with a friend in England who runs a

successful e-learning company

. And she explained that she’s a perfectionist, that she doesn’t have time to create the content she wants because it’s not perfect. So she just doesn’t.

Sound familiar?

While I’m no fan of doing a mediocre post just for the sake of blogging, I am a fan of doing what it takes to make your business a success. So stop worrying about what people will say, and start sharing what you think and believe. You’re not Hemmingway, and you don’t have to be.The big faceless corporations do, because they’re in the business of creating content for people to buy mediocre products.But you? You’re in the business of getting people to believe in you and trust that you know what you’re doing. It doesn’t take a miracle, it does take a bit of courage and 26 characters in the alphabet. That’s it.

What’s The Best Way To Start Blogging?

Great question.

If you’re concerned about what to say, start blogging under a pseudo name. You don’t need to share it (or link it to your website). Force yourself to post twice a week about anything. And once you get in the habit, and realize people won’t laugh at you in public or stop selling you groceries or cut off your electricity when you write a post that’s not your best, you’ll realize you have nothing to lose, and everything to gain.Then you can start

sharing your blog

.

It’s not about being perfect. It’s about being yourself.

So, be yourself when you blog. And you may be amazed at the results you find.

p.s. You may also be interested in Ken Robinson’s TED talk on how schools kill creativity.