Lessons From My Podcast & Dropping Perfectionism

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So today the #NoFilterNeeded podcast is exactly 5 months old… and what a surreal 5 months it’s been, eh?

As the months have gone on it’s certainly got a lot easier and quicker to edit the podcast – it took me nearly 10 hours to edit the first episode!

My interview with Zoe was recorded pre-pandemic at my home and we used 2 separate mics; so there were not 1 but 2 tracks to edit.

After spending quite some time working out how to launch a podcast and set everything up I then got onto editing.

I started with the sound on both tracks and then went onto cut it… what I didn’t realise was that the sound edits don’t move when you cut the track, and so I ended up having to start again from scratch.  I also messed up some of the edits by not cutting both tracks at the same time and then it was all out of sync, and too far gone for me to backtrack, so once again I had to wipe the slate clean and start again.

It was a super long (and infuriating) process but I was determined to get there and (about 2 days later) I eventually did with that first episode. And I now know not to make those mistakes again!

Then there was the time I recorded Andy’s interview on Zoom only to find out that Zoom is 100% not podcast recording friendly – it sounded awful! A sound engineer friend of mine took a look at it but there was not a lot he could do and I had the choice of either re-recording it or just sticking it up anyway.  I chose the latter.  And not because I’m lazy, but because things aren’t perfect all the time; and sometimes you just have to let perfectionism go so you can move onto the next thing and keep making progress.

The sound on the episodes is still far from perfect as my home is basically an echo chamber – wooden floors throughout and hard surfaces everywhere – not optimal for recording at all and it really bothered me at first.  But I had to just had to let it go, as I feel that getting these interviews and people’s stories and insights out to my listeners is far more important than perfect sound.

Sometimes the things that we do, or create, can’t be perfect because if we waited for them to be perfect then we’d never get going with it and so there won’t be anything TO BE perfect because we would have never got started with it.

We can only ever do our best, and do you want tot know the wonderful thing? By doing our best, our best gets better! So it’s important for us to just get going and then tweak as we go – that way we are always learning on the job which I believe is the most effective way of learning and use of our time.

Quite a few people suggested that I should outsource the editing of the podcast but I do get rather attached to things that I create, and admittedly, I have a strong need for control.  But perhaps the real reason I chose to drive myself a little crazy with it through trial and error is more to do with my curious nature of just generally wanting to know how things work.

Yes, I’m the type of girl who loves building flat-pack furniture… and more often than not, the one that has to take it apart and start again as I didn’t lay it all out and think it through before I started.  But, oh the feeling of accomplishment once it’s done!

Doing things the experimental way is generally how I roll in life by the way 😉

I’m a huge advocate of leaning into failure because every time I’ve failed at something, although it stings a little or a lot, it’s always taught me a lesson that I’m not only able to apply to the thing that I’m doing but the lesson – or sometimes lessons (plural) – can usually be applied to other things further down the line. Just trying new things with the potential of failing at them generally broadens my knowledge in lots of areas.

And on that trail of thought I’ve been pushing out my comfort zone a fair bit the last few months.  I know I’m not alone, we all have because we’ve had no choice with our normal way of life flipped upside down, pushing us into new territory and ways of living.

I refer to the podcast as my ‘lockdown baby’ – it’s one of the many- and I’m so glad I got out of my own way and finally launched it as it’s been the catalyst for so many things.

I’ve connected with so many people that I wouldn’t normally have done, some of whom have been guests on the show, and I’ve also built some wonderful new relationships as well as being invited to speak in other communities and at events.

Bur perhaps most importantly it has increased my own confidence and it has led me onto producing video content which has resulted in new partnerships. So the last 4 months I’ve been teaching myself to communicate in other ways and to different people which has opened up all these shiny new doors full of opportunity.

Communication is such a beautiful thing and if you missed it a couple of months back then I highly recommend you listen to episode 7 with Suzie Parkus where we talk about the power and beauty of communication.

Speaking of communications and partnerships, I have a new venture I’ve been working on. It comes in the form of a YouTube channel that is launching next week.

Now this latest venture is a bit of a random one and, I kid you not, it was literally a shower thought… well, I was in the bath actually.

And I was sitting there thinking I’m a little bored with doing EVERYTHING alone – living alone, working alone, building my businesses alone, and launching new products and services alone.  Now don’t get me wrong, this is all a personal choice and I love my businesses and the life I’ve built for myself.  I don’t want to give any of it up, nor do I don’t want to invite people into the business (or my home for that matter!) for the sake of it,  but I strongly felt that I wanted to create something WITH someone, a collaboration of ideas and action that isn’t solely my own, and I want to create something completely new and different.  And so as I lay in the bath I thought to myself, “who do I love working with?” And 2 people immediately sprang to mind.

My videographer, Andy, and my graphic designer, Luke.

I draft Andy in at any opportunity I get. I’ve taken him to weddings all over the place and he’s filmed some lovely hair and makeup artistry promo videos for CJC Hair & Makeup and also my live events including my book launch.

Luke and I met at Central Saint Martins University many moons ago when we were studying, and he has been doing bits and bobs in the way of logos and brochures for me over the years. His most recent masterpiece was the #NoFilterNeeded book cover.

Anyway, back to the bath. So I sat there a while longer, and I thought to myself “IF I was to work with Andy and Luke what could we create?”

And then like lightning, it hit me “YouTube!”

I lept out of the bath, leaving a trail of suds on the floor while I tracked down my phone and excitedly pinged off a WhatsApp voice note to both of them with my idea of “some sort of chat show” on youtube.

I said I didn’t know much of the detail but I just have this feeling that we could create something awesome together and as for the details, we’ll just figure that out as we go along!

I wasn’t sure what response I was going to get – I figured they’d both listen to it and go “oh, she’s off again with her crazy ideas!” but they were all in! Hurrah!

I see this new joint venture as an opportunity for us to collaborate, learn from each other, better ourselves as we go, and most importantly have fun!

Miraculously,  just over 1 week later, Andy arrived with ALL the kit, and my house was transformed into a filming studio.  We spent the next 2 days filming our first 4 episodes! Don’t you just love it when a plan comes together? And I often find the things that are truly meant to just happen through no huge effort, they happen with ease, and sometimes as if by magic.

I’m going to level with you here, I feel that I am many things, but I honestly feel that I’m an entertainer at heart; I was the class clown at school, and I am generally energised by other people’s reactions to my actions, if that makes sense? I believe it’s why I got into the private sector with my makeup artistry and chose to work with people that really wanted the transformation and whom I could impact emotionally, rather than simply working on an actor or model that was just there to do their job.

With regards to the content for our new YouTube channel, we figure that we’ve all had a super tough year and that we could all generally do with some light-hearted fun and positivity.  And so our little show is just for the fun of it really!

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All 3 of us have been hit super hard by the pandemic, as have so many others. Andy, Luke and I have not able to do as much (if any) of the creative work with our clients that we love to do, so we simply want to exercise our creative minds in a new project and see what happens. It’s simply a little playtime for both you and us.

We have no idea where it is going to go which meant we struggled to come up with a name for it so for now it’s called The Pylot Show.

We’re keeping everyone updated on when the show goes live via the new Instagram account and I’d love for you to hop over there and give us a cheeky follow.

And back to the podcast. I will, of course, be continuing on each week, but the episodes will be taking a slightly different format as I have so many tools and methods from my coaching practice and speaking slots the last few months that I want to make what I have been teaching accessible for all. I want to motivate and inspire as many people as possible, building their self-belief and self-confidence in the process.

We all have so much power within us but so many fail to recognise just how uniquely amazing they really are as their false beliefs are hanging over them and holding them back, and their negative self-talk is sabotaging there dreams before they even got started with pursuing them.

so I’m ramping up my mission here to help more people recognise their awesomeness and have the confidence to go out there, tout it about and damn well OWN IT!

So, if you feel you could do with some inspiration and motivation and want some actionable steps to take to find your awesome and do amazing stuff through simply being you, then I ask of you today to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes to stay tuned.  And if you’re feeling lovely and enjoyed listening to the past guests I’ve had on the show then please give it a review  as it helps other people to find and enjoy it too!

Wishing you an EPIC rest of the week, keep shining and keep smiling! xx

On Key

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