Are you scared of uncertain or unpredictable outcomes?
Do you feel like an imposter when you’re tasked with a new and challenging project?
Are you constantly seeking reassurance that it will all be okay?
Do you hold off on shipping your creative work?
We often believe we need credentials to do useful or valuable work. Whether it’s having a college degree, a training certificate, or a professional license, credentials help us seem less like an imposter. But we’re all imposters on some level when we work on hard problems with no easy answers.
You might ask yourself: Why did I get picked? Why am I being charged to solve this issue? Why am I stepping up and choosing to lead or choosing to follow?
Don’t wait for reassurance or validation. Instead, hone the ability to trust yourself. You will never get enough assurance of a favorable outcome. You will never get enough approval for what you did. If you’re creating useful work, there’s no way to please everyone. Worrying about what others think is a quest for guarantees, but there are no guarantees when it comes to creative work.
Do, ship and repeat if you want to make things better with creative work. You don’t always need credentials to start.
In episode 23 of The Incrementalist podcast, you will learn:
1) What creative work is
2) You have a choice to be creative or to become a hack, a hustler, or a cog
3) The power of showing up, even when you don’t feel like it or when you have Imposter Syndrome
4) Creativity is not a talent or a gift, but is a deliberate practice that allows you build the skills to be creative
5) Why focusing on the process is more important than striving for a favorable outcome
6) Why you need to set a schedule and time block when you will take your action steps
7) Why you must set constraints and upper limits to generate better ideas and execute more quickly
8) How perfectionism holds you back and why you need to ship your work when it’s good enough for the intended audience
The Incrementalist ebook is on sale for $4.99, until June 20. After that, the regular minimum price of $9.99 will apply. You can find it at leanpub.com/incrementalist.
Resources cited:
- Seth Godin, The Practice: Shipping Creative Work
- Dyan Williams, The Incrementalist: A Simple Productivity System to Create Big Results in Small Steps
- The Incrementalist podcast, Ep. 21, Find and Keep a Hobby You Love
- The Incrementalist podcast, Ep. 7, Time Blocking and Time Boxing to Get the Right Things Done
To listen to episode 23, Do, Ship, Repeat, click here. Subscribe to The Incrementalist at Apple Podcasts or other apps.
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Dyan Williams is a productivity coach who helps working parents, lawyers, small business owners and other busy people turn their ideas into action, reduce overwhelm, and focus on what truly matters. She is also a solo lawyer who practices U.S. immigration law and legal ethics at Dyan Williams Law PLLC. She is the author of The Incrementalist: A Simple Productivity System to Create Big Results in Small Steps.
