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Transcript

Perfectly Imperfect · The Daily Writer

• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Daily Rider, where we share a lesson each day to help you cultivate the habits for creative success.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: First drafts are hard.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Let's just get that out of the way right here and now.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: The deeper question is why?
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Why does it take so much effort to produce a first draft, even if we know we'll have many opportunities down the road to make improvements before the final version is finished?
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: According to the author Anne Lamotte, the real villain in the story of our first draft is perfectionism.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Here's what she said about it.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life, and it is the main obstacle between you and your first draft.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping stone just right, you won't have to die.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: The truth is that you will die anyway, and that a lot of people who aren't even looking at their feet are going to do a whole lot better than you and have a lot more fun while they're doing it.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: We get an idea in our heads that we must produce a perfect book, but even if such a thing were possible, what would a perfect book look like?
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, have you ever even seen a perfect book?
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Think about all the books you've read over your lifetime.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: Would you describe any of them as perfect?
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Who would even determine such a thing?
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: Well, the truth is that no work of art is ever perfect.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's made by imperfect humans who have deep flaws, insecurities, and problems.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: But even though we know this, for some reason we have an expectation that our art should be perfect according to some imaginary standard that we have swimming around in our heads.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: But that's not the way our readers evaluate our writing.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: They evaluate it by whether our writing helped them solve a problem, give them a new perspective, or whether it entertained them for a little while.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: So don't let perfectionism keep you from that all-important first draft.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Just keep going, knowing that your humanity, flaws and all, will make your writing perfectly imperfect.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much for listening to today's episode.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: I want to take a second to let you know about our daily writer membership community.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: It has been an absolute blast the last couple months since we opened the doors publicly to see so many writers in this group making progress toward their goals.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: We have writer starting books, finishing books, launching books, launching lead magnets for their websites, getting their website set up, getting client work, and all kinds of cool things.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: I would love for you to check it out and join us.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: You can go to dailywriterlife.comslash community to find out more.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, and I'll see you tomorrow.