Have you ever found yourself getting all ready to do something, like record a video, only to realize your obsession with ‘getting prepared’ was just a fancy excuse for procrastination? I’ve discovered that this form of perfectionism is just procrastination in disguise, and I’m trying a new mindset shift to combat it.
Prefer to watch? I’ve put my video below or if you’re a reader simply continue reading the post.
The Counterintuitive Truth About Preparation
This is going to sound completely counterintuitive, but if you go prepare, you are setting yourself up for failure. If you get yourself all ready, set up everything perfectly, whether that’s a camera, wearing the right outfit, doing your makeup, or getting your space just right, I can almost guarantee one of two things will happen. The videos you create are either going to be crappy, or you’re not going to make them at all.
You will either do them and they will suck, or you won’t do them at all. This is because that whole preparation ritual is really just a story you’re telling yourself to delay, delay, delay.
That preparation is a story that you’re telling yourself to delay, delay, delay.
Why Perfectionism Is Just Procrastination in Disguise
When you’re fussing over the right outfit, adjusting the space, or making sure the camera and lighting are perfect, you are taking action from a part of yourself that doesn’t feel ready. This part believes it needs to achieve X, Y, and Z before it can finally be “good enough” to start.
All of those actions, though they feel like productive preparation, are simply things we do because there’s a part of ourself that doesn’t feel ready to do the thing. They are delaying tactics rooted in insecurity. People often call it perfectionism, or as someone once said to me, “you have perfectionitis.”
So how do we help that part of ourself actually integrate and do the thing well? The answer is to show it that we can skip all that preparation. Learning to move past these repeating patterns can be challenging. If you find yourself stuck in similar cycles of self-sabotage, you can explore resources like the Break Free From Self Sabotage training event; be sure to check the schedule on the registration page for the next available class.
Finding Authenticity by Ditching the Prep
If we can skip through all of that meticulous planning and just go do the thing, we can get comfortable with spontaneous action. And that is exactly where authenticity exists. The best, most connected content I’ve ever filmed is content where I just hit the record button the moment I had the thought, whether I was laying in bed or sitting at my computer.
If we can skip through all of that and just go do the thing, and we can get comfortable doing that, that’s where authenticity exists.
Conversely, if I go set the stage, think about the idea, and then make sure I have my ring light and all the other elements in place, it becomes much more challenging to create content that feels connected and flows naturally. It inevitably ends up feeling staged, rehearsed, planned, and stale, simply because it is.
