My guest today is Mary Click. She is the National Intergenerational Tutoring Director for the Oasis Institute, a nonprofit educational organization that promotes healthy aging through lifelong learning, active lifestyles, and service.

Oasis Intergenerational Tutoring has positively impacted over 525,000 children since its inception in 1989, and has been implemented in more than 100 school districts across the country. The award-winning volunteer program pairs older adults with children in grades K-3 to work one-on-one each week not only as tutors, but as mentors and positive role models.

In her role with Oasis, Mary is responsible for developing resources to support the tutoring program in nine Oasis centers and independent sites in twenty cities. Mary collaborates closely with school district administrators, school district facilitators, and the Oasis network tutoring staff to serve volunteer tutors participating in the program. She previously served as the St. Louis Tutoring Manager and held other project management roles during her 15-year tenure at The Oasis Institute.

In this conversation, Mary and I talk about the importance of childhood literacy, how schools have changed over the last few decades, how reading impacts kids in many different ways, and how you can get involved as a tutor.

To explore how to get involved as a tutor, visit https://oasis.net/tutoring.

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Nothing could be further from the truth. Every single day is unique. It will never come around again. You only have this one shot, this one opportunity to live these twenty-four hours.

So you must treat today like the gift it truly is.

As a result, we have to treat our audience the same way. We have to show up every day, ready to write, ready to create, ready to serve. They deserve the best you can give.

The legendary singer Tony Bennett said, “If you walk out there like it’s just another night, the audience is going to treat you the same way.” Wise words from a man who has been entertaining and serving audiences for decades.

Question: Are you treating this day as the gift it truly is?

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So far in this series, we have looked at the importance of getting clear on your audience and message, building the platforms where you will share your content, and writing consistently.

That brings us to Milestone #4: Publishing and marketing books that solve problems for your reader.

Why it’s important: Books give you credibility and authority that you cannot get any other way. Books are also a super convenient way for you to share your wisdom with people.

Notice the emphasis on solving problems… it’s critical that your book be focused on solving a problem in some way for your reader. For example, my recent book 18 Words to Live By was focused on solving the problem of not knowing which values are most critical to take with you throughout life.

I highly recommend that you focus on writing short books that solve problems for people, at least in terms of nonfiction. If you’re focusing on fiction, that’s a different animal because fiction is not about solving problems. But if you’re doing nonfiction, remember that people come to your book with a problem or frustration they need help solving. Keep their needs in mind.

Remember, writing for an audience is not mainly about meeting your needs… it’s about helping your reader. If you want to write for therapy or just for fun, that’s totally fine. But if you’re focused on building a business with your writing, you have to follow the principle that every successful business follows, which is putting your customer (or reader) first.

What do they want? What do they need? How can you help them? Those are the questions that should be driving you if you want to have a successful writing business.

The main challenge you will face in this regard is two-fold. First of all, a lot of people feel intimidated by the idea of writing a book. That’s why I recommend writing short little books that people can read fast.

Second, you will face the challenge of not focusing on your reader. You must have a relentless focus on helping your reader. That is critical. We’ll say more about that later on.

Daily Question: What is a topic of interest to you that could be the basis for a short book you could write in the next 3 months?

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Writers tend to think about what a book can do for them, and it can certainly do a lot of things for you. You can grow a business, earn income, build your reputation and credibility, and much more.

However, writing is ultimately a SERVICE to other people. If people are going to spend time, money, and energy reading your book or your writing, they need to receive value from it.

When considering what you want to write about, ask yourself this question: What is the main thing you want your reader to do? What is a tangible change in their life your book will help them achieve? (By the way, if you’re writing fiction, there is still a transformation—you want them to be moved, transported, etc. by your story. Fiction can often have a more powerful impact than non-fiction.)

Asking yourself this question is one of the most radically helpful things you can do when considering what to write.

Daily Question: How do you want your book or your writing to serve your readers?

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There’s an old saying that goes something like this: “People who are too busy rowing the boat don’t have time to rock it.” The meaning is pretty straightforward: when you are occupied with doing the work, you don’t have much time to criticize others.

William Faulkner said something similar: “The artist doesn’t have time to listen to the critics. The ones who want to be writers read the reviews, the ones who want to write don’t have the time to read reviews.”

If you are too worried about what other people think of you, it might be because you’re not putting enough time into your writing. Spend your emotional energy on creating, on serving, on writing. Then you won’t have much time left to care much about what others think.

Daily Question: On a scale of 1-10, how much time and energy do you spend worrying about what others think of you?

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As I mentioned yesterday in my podcast intro, I’m forgoing the usual weekend introduction and just diving right in. This weekend, I’m doing a couple of shorter episodes that can help you with practical aspects of your writing.

On today’s post, I’d love to dive into the topic of perfectionism. This is an area where so many writers struggle. We have this ideal of what we should be writing, or the kind of success we should be having, and then we get stuck because it seems unattainable.

I used to struggle with this a lot more. Honestly, when I started doing a daily podcast, and when I started doing more client work, this tendency went away simply because I had to create on demand. There wasn’t really time to sit and analyze my writing to death. I had to get it in shape, then get it out the door and move on to the next thing.

I want to share the most helpful way that I started to beat perfectionism. I started making it my goal to produce B-level work in everything I did. I think it was the author Sean McCabe who I once heard say, “Your 90% is everyone else’s 100%.” There is a lot of wisdom in that approach because, if you’re a perfectionist, your standards are so high that almost no one can achieve them. So, if you just shoot for 90%, everyone else will perceive that as 100%.

This was immensely helpful to me, and I translated this concept into a grading metaphor since I was a teacher for a long time.

So how does this apply in real life? It just means that you get your work to the level that is a solid B+. What does that mean specifically? Well, it depends on your perception of what a B+ is, the type of work you’re doing, and so forth.

If you’re a heart surgeon, a B+ won’t cut it because you have to be perfect. But we’re talking about writing, not heart surgery. The way this applies to me is that when I create material for my podcast or a book, I get it to a level where I think, “Yeah, that’s pretty good and will help someone.”

I don’t spend excessive time wordsmithing things. I don’t obsess over every word. I make sure it’s clear and has some kind of practical application. And, of course, I make sure there are as few grammar and spelling errors as possible. And when it comes to client work or paid products like books, of course, I bring in editors and sometimes beta readers for more support.

Perfectionism is not about the reader you’re serving, it’s about you. If you’re obsessed with perfection to the point where you can’t create, that’s a very self-centered approach to your work. Start focusing on the reader and the people you are trying to help. Get your work to a B+ level and then ship it.

When you obsessively focus on trying to help people instead of obsessing over what people think of you, you will enjoy writing a lot more and be far more productive.

The post The Best Way to Stop Being a Perfectionist appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

Here on this podcast, we talk a lot about topics that are focused on the writer. We spend a lot of time thinking about mindset, habits, and success. 

All those topics are important, and they exist to serve our broader goal, which is serving other people with our writing. 

You’ve probably heard the phrase, “If a tree falls in the forest, does anyone hear it?” The same could be said about our books. If nobody ever reads the book, does it matter that someone wrote it? 

Writing is a great tool for overcoming fear, building a business, making an income, and all sorts of other benefits. But all those things ultimately exist for the purpose of adding value to the world. 

The author Madeleine L’Engle wrote, “I am pretty sure that writing may be a way of life in itself. It can be that because it continually forces us away from self toward others.” 

Your writing is, first of all, about you because you are the one making it happen. But it must not end there.  

Ultimately, it’s all about other people. 

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