Keep it simple

I’ve been working on my second book for a couple of months now, and already, it feels so much different than it felt to write my first book–in the best way.

Writing Permission To Screw Up was . . . hard, to say the least. Part of what made it hard was that I really had no idea what to expect. I had never written anything longer than an essay, and I had no clue what it actually took to write an entire book. But another part of it–the bigger part–was my approach to writing the book. The formula I had always applied to my work up until that point was more hours + more effort = more success. That had worked well in the early days of Student Maid, when I spent my weekends sending sales emails, reading business books, and balancing spreadsheets. The harder I worked, the more success we had. So I figured that if I applied that same formula to a book, I’d get the same kind of result.

That strategy for Permission to Screw Up did bring me success, but it came at a huge cost. I put so many hours into my first book that I went a year and a half over my original deadline. When I had writer’s block, I would just sit at my computer, staring at a blank document until I could force the words out of me. I would rewrite the same sentence over and over and over again until I felt that it captured exactly what I wanted it to say. I was so stressed out all the time. I felt like I couldn’t do anything except write my book, which led to neglected relationships and responsibilities. The process was, in a word, painful.

In the end, I was incredibly proud of that book. To this day, I feel like it’s the best it could possibly have been. But if you asked me if I would go through it all again to get there? Heck. No. 

Writing Permission To Screw Up taught me countless lessons about myself. One of the biggest is that my old formula of more effort + more hours = more success is a one-way ticket to burnout. It took me a long time to realize it, but nothing good came from all those hours I spent stressing out and staring at my computer. After a certain point, the quality of my work diminished. Working longer hours just meant that it took me longer to accomplish what I wanted to do; it didn’t mean that I was doing better work.

In the book Effortless: Make It Easier To Do What Matters Most by Greg McKeown, he talks about how there can be an unintended negative impact of doing too much. He tells the story of a time when he had to give a big, important presentation. Instead of delivering his tried-and-true keynote, he started over from scratch because he put a lot of pressure on himself to “nail it.” He wrote an entirely new speech and created brand-new slides, thinking that’s what he had to do to impress his audience. But instead, he blew it. The presentation went terribly. McKeown chalked this up to doing too much. For putting in too much effort instead of keeping it simple and doing what he already knew.

With book #2, my mantra is, “Keep it simple.” Instead of looking for the perfect words, I’m OK with finding an 80% match before I move on. Instead of sitting all day in front of the computer, I set a timer on my phone and I stop writing (or trying to write) when it goes off. Instead of working late nights and writing on the weekends, I’m making sure I get plenty of rest and keeping my work to the weekdays. When I feel stuck on something, I bring it to our team book meetings to talk it out together instead of trying to work through it by myself. I know that there’s a second book inside of me, so now, the only question I need to ask myself is: How do I capture it?

We put so much pressure on ourselves to do more and be more. But what I want to remind you–and myself–is this: When we’re given opportunities, it’s because we’ve already proven that we’re good at something and have the potential to succeed. We don’t need to overwork or overextend ourselves to prove that we deserve what we’ve already earned. Overextending ourselves won’t lead us to our best work. So, ask yourself: Where am I overcompensating where I don’t need to? What can I make simpler? What is something that could be effortless to me but instead is stressing me out?

I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes from Effortless: “So often, the answer isn’t to do more. It’s to do less.”

And with that in mind . . . Next week is our Break Week! The team and I are taking a full week off to rest, recharge, and recalibrate. Personally, I’ll be spending it with my family, recreating our holiday that we missed in December because of COVID. I’ll be back here on April 7th with a new blog post and an inspired heart!

Big hugs,

Kristen

P.S. Our next Human Leadership Program will take place May 18th + 19th!! Join us and learn how to become a more authentic, human leader. Tickets and more info here!

P.P.S. Looking for a way to invest in yourself in 2022?! We’d love to invite you to join our monthly coaching group. You can find all the deets here!