Consistency... for the rest of us

The thing they tell you about meditation, is that there's no right way to do it. But I didn't let that sink in at first.

I've meditated consistently for about a year. Not every day. But anywhere from 2 to 5 times a week. It's the longest I've ever stuck with a meditation routine, by at least 360 days or so.

But I've actually spent 0 days "clearing my mind."

Instead most days I sit there, eyes shut, suddenly remembering that thing online I simply must take care of. That thing I always forget during the 8 hours I'm actually sitting at a computer, but becomes urgent during the only 10 minutes of the day when I'm not supposed to be anywhere near a computer. Then I breathe for a little while. Then, time's up.

At the end of each session, I think to myself, "I'm doing this wrong."

Then the meditation narrator guy (this guy) ends the meditation by saying something like,

"Nope! No, you're good. This is actually how people do it. You don't clear your mind during meditation. You observe your scattered, crazy-ass mind, as-is."

I mean, that's pretty much what he says. His is a more British-y, I've-lived-in-a-Tibetan-monastery version.

But I think what he's saying is that if you wait until your mind is clear, you'll feel constantly frustrated, get sick of being frustrated, and give up on meditation after a few tries.

The mind never clears. It's always fears, doubts, anger, resentment, exhaustion. It's always the same caterwauling.

But you can decide whether that state of mind will steal the practice from you. You can meditate anyway, or you can choose to stop.

If you choose to meditate anyway, week after week, then eventually a year goes by. And when a year goes by, then you can say, "I've meditated consistently for about a year." ... 

...

So it is with writing for your business. So many of you have told me that you won't write something unless you think it's "of value" to your audience.

That's the advice that's "out there." The old jab, jab, jab, right hook. It's might as well be a flipping commandment.

But! Some you've decided that "of value" means that you have to have 100 percent figured out exactly to a tee the beginning, middle, and end of a story. It must be tied up in a neat bow and the lesson you learned must be

• clear.
• bullet point-able.
• tip-py.

If you have all those elements, then and only then is the email/social post version of "camera-ready." Otherwise, people might think you're a hot mess and wonder what makes you think your product or service can help them with anything.

What if I were to tell you that having all those elements actually makes your story... kind of boring? And also... kind of impossible?

I mean... how many of us actually have all that many experiences that look like, "I had problem X and through hard work and chutzpah I figured out problem X and now it NEVER, EVER BOTHERS ME anymore"?

You probably have almost no stories like that. Ok, maybe 2. Two stories like that. So if you're only sharing those kinds of stories, pretty soon (like after telling 2 stories) you're going to run out of material. Then you're going to give up.

So I guess what I'm saying is... are you going to let your perfectionism/impostor syndrome steal the practice of writing for your business from you?

Not a rhetorical question. Reply and let me know.

M

PS: I'm still offering those 30-minute audits I told you about last week. These are free sessions with no pitch at the end. Just a chance for you to talk about how you approach marketing for your business. We could spend some of the minutes discussing whether you think the email above is total garbage and you legit DO need to write tip-py emails for your business. And how that's going for you.

If you want a little perspective on how you're approaching marketing writing for your business, schedule a time. https://meetmaggie.as.me/schedule.php?appointmentType=11488564