Judgement kills possibility
Have you ever created a piece of work and agonised for days, weeks, even months after, while you collate, curate and further create – only then to begin to question whether it is correct, good enough, worth sharing, complete or ready for the world?
Apparently, it’s very common to start questioning your work the nearer it gets to completion and publication, as seems to be the case with my new book.
When I was chatting with Michael, my Editor, about releasing manuscript excerpts to get reviews and testimonials, his response stumped me. He asked why I only wanted to share a mere chapter or section. The answer seemed completely obvious to me. Why would I give away all of my IP? Why would I freely release the whole manuscript? This wasn’t about money; it was about protecting my work. It was about holding onto it, keeping it close to me and lovingly releasing it a bit at a time. I wasn’t emotionally ready to just let it all go.
Then came the realisation that the entire point of a book is to do exactly that. To put all of your thinking out into the world. To let it go, and let it be.
I wasn’t quite there in that moment. I wasn’t in that place where an author needs to be at publication time, completely ready to just set the work free and await judgement. And then the realisation hit me: Judgement. That was the real barrier that also quietly attended this conversation.
What if someone doesn’t like it? What if someone doesn’t agree with what I think? What if…
To move past this publishing mental roadblock, these ‘what ifs’ had to pivot into ‘so what’. This is my work and my expertise bundled up after years of learning, testing, improving and refining. Years spent finding what works best and what helps others. Is it for everyone? No. Will everyone love it? Hopefully not, because then we can have a conversation and debate why we see the world differently before arriving at a better place for us both. Does it have the potential to make a real and lasting impact on those I see as the core audience for this topic? Absolutely.
Right here, right now, do I care what people think? Of course, I still do. But not to the point that I won’t put my thinking out into the world, as that would be a far worse outcome than managing a few negative comments.