There’s a version of you that’s prolific.

That pushes your work out there constantly. And that has a body of work people can actually find.

That version of you isn’t smarter than you or more talented. They just decided that being seen imperfectly costs less than not being seen at all.

Perfectionism frames itself as caring about quality. But quality isn’t what keeps your work in drafts for months.

Fear does that.

The fear that once it’s out there, it becomes fixed — and so does other people’s opinion of you.

How do you come back from a less than perfect book, video, app, or speech?

The focus on living up to your potential is leaving your potential off the table altogether.

As long as your work is still in progress and not out there garnering likes (or not), views (few, if any) or getting feedback, you’re still in control.

This is why the advice to “just ship it” doesn’t always land. Perfectionists already know they should ship. The problem isn’t needing more information about shipping.

The problem is that shipping feels like handing someone a weapon they could use against you.

This is an easy trigger for imposter syndrome because putting it out there and exposing the work to the wild will make people judge your work. And ultimately judge you.

So you stay in the drafts folder.

Piddle-farting with it, refining it ad nauseam, and protecting it from the very eyes that would make it better.

The cost isn’t obvious at first. But it compounds. A year goes by and you’ve published almost nothing. Five years, and you’re still “working on something.”

Meanwhile, people with half your skills, experience, and ability have built audiences, launched businesses, and made things that matter.

This will burn you hard when you hit a certain age because you’ll see that the secret sauce the whole time was in being visible.

You could have done your best work, and it could’ve been even better because others would’ve helped you refine it.

You can do your best work in private. But it doesn’t help anyone if it’s hidden.

You’ll start seeing the growth in yourself and your work when you’re willing to be seen before you feel ready.

There’s really no other way.

This is video 4 in my 30-day video challenge.