Today’s perspective is that almost everything is a draft. Here’s what I mean: one of the reasons we get creatively hung up is that we want everything we do to be perfect. We’re afraid of judgment, of what people will think.

So, we get stuck in this endless cycle of always starting things but never finishing and publishing them because of this idea that everything we create is the final version of that thing.

I believe the opposite: almost everything you create is just a draft, a work-in-progress, of a more final version later on.

Books are really the only thing that should exist in some type of “final” form because it’s impossible to go back and change print books. But even those are not necessarily “final” because you can always update the ebook and audiobook versions, or you can release a new edition of a book.

I consider almost everything I create to be a draft. Podcast episodes, newsletters, email, social media posts, teaching sessions in my Daily Writer Club… I work to make all of those as good as I can, but I will change and update that material for other formats. The book is the format that needs to have the highest level of editing and excellence.

So don’t get hung up on the things you’re creating. Just do your best, reach for excellence, then hit publish and move on.

Question: Do you get hung up on trying to be a perfectionist?

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Let me ask you an honest question. Do you love the work of being a writer?

Here’s what I mean. Do you love the process of coming up with ideas, writing multiple drafts, editing, and working on the design or layout of blog posts or books? Do you take pleasure in the overall creative process?

Or are you more interested in the end result? Do you see all those other things as an irritation or annoyance on the way to getting to the end result?

This is an important question. I believe if you’re going to be successful over the long haul as a writer, you must learn to love every step of the process. The author Dorothy Parker said, “I hate writing. I love having written.”

We all can relate to that, but it’s also a sad commentary on our obsession with the end result.

Sometimes you hear about world-class actors who really relish the process of bringing a character to life, or even living in character on set. Heath Ledger and Daniel Day-Lewis were famous for that. They loved the process, not just going to the movie premiere and seeing themselves on screen.

If you don’t love the drafting or editing process so much, I want you to start seeing it as your friend, as a companion that helps you to produce a better end result. When you come to love the process as much as the end result, the writing life becomes something you can enjoy every day, not just once every year or two when you release a book.

Wouldn’t that be so much more fun?

Question: Do you love every part of the writing process? Why or why not?

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We all want to have successful books. As artists and storytellers, we want to write a great American novel that is a New York Times bestseller. We want to build a successful business. Or we have some other kind of dream that’s important to us.

That work is important, yes. But it’s not the most important work that you do. Not even close. The most important work you do is on yourself. The best energy you can put into your writing is not the energy that goes into your book, but the energy that goes into your mental and emotional health.

Are you taking care of yourself physically? Are you exercising and eating a decent diet? Do you have friends you can call in times of trouble? Are you involved in some kind of community where you live?

Do you read every day and take a few moments for gratitude or meditation? Are you getting enough rest and hydration? Do you have a hobby or take some time to relax so you don’t spend all your time working?

Those are pretty fundamental questions, but they are important. If you focus on your creative work all the time but neglect working on yourself, you will crash and burn.

I want you to be successful and healthy over the long-haul, not just for the immediate term when you’re working on something that you perceive to be so important.

That work is important, yes. But the most important thing you will ever work on is yourself.

Question: Are you spending time each day working on yourself? In what ways specifically?

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Today I want to remind you of an obvious truth, but it’s a truth we like to avoid: You’re going to die someday.

When you die, what happens to all those ideas you’ve been storing? All those books and stories you wanted to get to someday, but didn’t? What happens to all those plans and dreams?

The truth is that all those things will die with you unless you do something with them while you’re still alive. The exception, of course, is if you’re one of those authors who leave notebooks full of amazing ideas, and publishers turn them into books years and decades after your death, or they have other writers flesh them out and list you as a co-author. But I digress.

The fact remains that for most of us, our creative ideas will have no value once we are gone.

Here’s another way of saying it: It all goes back in the box when YOU go in the box.

So make use of those ideas now. Don’t wait around for the perfect time because it will never come.

Great ideas are like money. They must be spent in order to have the greatest value. Money in circulation does far more good than just sitting in your bank account piling up.

Your ideas are the same. Put them out there in circulation on blogs, podcasts, social media, books, articles, or workshops. Just get them out there and see what happens. You might just be surprised what happens.

After all, your life has an expiration date. So make use of the time while you still have it.

Question: Are you making a habit of getting your ideas out there, or are you storing them for the “someday” that may never come?

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When I was a kid back in the 1980s, I listened to a lot of Christian music. My favorite album during that period was “The Big Picture” by an artist named Michael W. Smith. One of the best songs on the album was titled Pursuit of the Dream, which contained one of my favorite lyrics ever: “Never forget your roots as you head for something new.”

That lyric has stuck with me for decades as I have gone through various periods in my life and made a lot of changes. It has particularly stuck with me over the last year since I quit my job as a college professor and became a full-time ghostwriter and author.

I have gotten a little bit of attention from people in my network because I’ve released a few books over the last year, built a successful business from scratch, and also have my first book coming out next month with a traditional New York publisher.

Yes, I’m proud of my accomplishments from the last couple of years. But the truth is that I had a lot of help getting here and I will continue to need a lot of help as I go forward. None of these good things would’ve happened without the support of my amazing wife and son, and mentors like Honoreé Corder, Dan Miller, and Nick Pavlidis.

At the end of the day, I’m just a kid from a small southern Missouri town of Potosi. I grew up in a double-wide trailer out in the country. But I had the good fortune of having amazing parents, a lot of good teachers, and so many people who have helped me along the way.

Whatever level of success you achieve in your life or business, don’t ever forget where you came from. We were all born the same way and we will all leave this life one day. Keep your success in perspective and remember that it’s all pretty pointless if you don’t use your success to help other people.

Question: How did your roots shape you into the person you are today?

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Social media has made things both harder and easier for us as writers.

On the one hand, it is much easier than it was years ago because we can connect with almost anyone. We can share content and be inspired by what other people are posting.

On the other hand, social media has made it much harder. Why? Because social media by definition only showcases people’s success. We end up comparing our whole lives, including our failures and frustrations, to a partial view of other people’s lives because they only post their wins. (And we all do the same thing, by the way.)

When you see all the wins that people are posting, don’t compare yourself. Sure, you can learn from other people. But your race is not their race. You have your own pace, your own goals, your own priorities, and your own commitments in life.

For example, if you are a young mother with three kids at home and you only have 15 minutes of silence a day before collapsing into bed at night, don’t feel guilty about not getting as much work done as the single guy who probably has far fewer commitments, much more free time, and seems to be accomplishing more.

Here’s another example. Maybe you are that single person who is just getting started and feels guilty because you’re not accomplishing as much as that business writer with several kids who seem to travel all over the world and have it all. They have a New York Times bestseller, an email list of a hundred thousand people, and what looks like a perfect life.

But what you may not know is that her marriage is crumbling and she’s secretly miserable because she has to run herself ragged to keep up with all the demands of her freshly grown business.

In other words, you never know people’s real situations and what their lives are like on the inside. So don’t assume that what you’re seeing on social media is the whole picture.

This is certainly no judgment on anybody’s personal situation because we all have different lives. Our lives are constantly in flux according to our stage of life and where we are in building a business or reaching our goals.

Don’t worry about anybody else. Just focus on running your own race and learn what you can from other successful people. Then, apply those lessons to your situation.

If you keep at it, pretty soon people will be comparing themselves to YOU. And then you can help a mentor and teach them, just like others have done for you.

Question: Do you have a hard time avoiding the comparison game?

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Even though we live in an age when anyone can self-publish and potentially reach millions of followers and readers through social media, most writers seem hesitant to really make a go of it.

Why? Because they’re waiting for someone to give them permission to go ahead and reach for their dreams.

Our society is based around permission-giving. As kids, we couldn’t do anything without the permission of parents and teachers (or maybe older siblings!). Then as adults, we feel hamstrung by needing permission from bosses, leaders, our social circle, or society in general.

A lot of people spend their whole lives just waiting for someone to give them permission to go ahead and be a writer. But I’m here to tell you—you don’t need it. Just do it. We’re all waiting for you to share your wisdom, your voice, your knowledge, and your perspective on life.

But if it helps, I’m here to be your permission-giver. If nobody else is giving you a green light, remember that your friend Kent is GIVING YOU PERMISSION TODAY. Go ahead. Do it. You have something important to share. We’ve all been patiently waiting.

Question: Have you been waiting for permission to be a writer?

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