As a person with a disability, the dangers of perfectionism have always been very real for me. Because I’ve worked a hundred times harder than people without my disability to achieve everything from results to success. As a recovering perfectionist, I know this can a huge barrier those that want to show up and be present online. Although the one thing that always surprises me is just how much something that seems imperfect to me can be a useful resource for someone else.

What you need to know about the dangers of perfectionism in content creation

Perfectionism is a myth because everyone’s idea of what makes a blog post or video good is different. This is a difficult dilemma that every professional creative has to cope with when working with new clients.

Here are some of the methods I use to produce appealing content for my audience. Hopefully, this will help you focus on the bottom line of the content you produce.

1) Never overlook your motivations

In her article on blogging tactics and motivation, Heidi Cohen discusses the powerful influence of peoples’ motivations; Heidi is interested in motivation from a blogger’s perspective.

For example, sometimes I’ll meet people with a sceptical outlook on content marketing. Because they have zero shares, subscribers, or comments.

Why motivation matters when fighting against the dangers of perfectionism in content creation

When content creators don’t their project’s true purpose, they produce inconsistent content. Because nothing will be good enough.

If that sounds way too challenging for you, consider the advice of Grace Bonney. Grace Bonney ran the design-focused website, Design Sponge for 15 years. Her emphasis is on mindfulness. So her approach will very likely help you unlock the motivation behind your blog:

Bonney has found the key to be mindfulness about her habits. She starts by asking a crucial question before clicking, “‘Why am I going there?’ If I go to Instagram to be inspired, I don’t have any guilt about how much time I spend. But if I am going on there to read things that will make me feel good about myself or feel connected to people, I need to understand why am I going there and not to real people in my real life.”

Although Grace Bonney is using social media as an example, this approach can apply to all types of content creation.

Questions to consider when you’re not sure what your motivations are. And how these motivations can help you overcome the dangers of perfectionism

Right now, I’m reading a how-to guide on book proposal writing. In the book’s birth of an idea chapter, writers are asked to explore their book’s reason for existence. Because this helps writers sell and write a book that can be sold to an agent or publisher. Although this approach can be applied to all other forms of content creation as well. Because you are suddenly having to ask yourself:

• What will the reader, viewer, or listener get out of this?
• Who will find this valuable?
• Why is this something that your average reader or viewer will care about?

The problem with the internet is that it’s a very crowded place. For example, did you know that every second Google processes over 40,000 searches?

If you know the purpose of your content, you won’t attract everyone; but you will attract like-minded people. In the marketing world, we call this the law of attraction. The law of attraction is basically this. If you’re consistent about your brand’s overall message, you’ll attract like-minded people.

Especially if you approach your content from an empathy-based perspective. Taking an empathy-based approach will provide informed solutions to your reader or viewer’s problems. To truly master this approach you need to consistently show up at the events and online platforms that your target audience hangs out on. Because that’s the best place to uncover what is challenging for the people you want to reach right now.

2) Always remember, authenticity is cool, and imperfections can factor into that process

In my early days of blogging, I would often overreact to meaningless mistakes. Then I started to watch travel YouTubers like Indigo traveller and Gabriel Traveller.

How my favourite traveller YouTubers influenced my approach to content creation

The more I watched Gabriel and Indigo’s videos, the more I freed myself from the dangers of perfectionism in content creation. Because perfectionism is never their goal. Instead, viewers are treated like close friends. Gabriel and Indigo talk directly to the camera. Their tone makes you feel like you’re an active participant in their adventure. Because nothing is scripted, or pre-planned.

So, when they have to talk over loud noises, miss a bus or plane, or face some other obstacle, these challenges are never left out of the finished product. Instead of ignoring mistakes, voice-overs and captions acknowledge and correct mistakes. Although it never feels self-deprecating. Because they use humour to laugh off everything that happened. This adds to the feeling of being included because it builds a healthy, trust-based relationship.

These days, a lot of professional content creators cling to the idea of authenticity. Because it’s a powerful tool for attracting and building a readership.  However, what they really want is something similar to what Indigo and Gabriel have, where they have thousands of loyal subscribers, eager to find out what they’re going to say next. Gabriel and Indigo are proof that raw, vulnerable storytelling has a massive amount of appeal.

3) Something published in a paper medium, like a book or magazine is final and permanent. The web is open to change.

I used to have a lot of resentment about not being born in a time where magazines and traditional publishing were the only options. Then, I found myself writing and editing for the web, and realized that the fast-paced nature of web writing is a really exciting challenge.  A great example of this is what most search engines value the most when determining what content should show up in a search engine result. According to Neil Patel:

By updating your old content, you can give it a second life and transform it into content that will continue to drive massive search engine traffic. Don’t let your old work go to waste. With a little freshening up, you can boost your search engine rankings with old content that’s been given a new look and updated relevance.

Why the web is the wrong place to be a perfectionist

When you create content for the web, the expectation is that certain links and information won’t be relevant months from now. So, it’s a medium where frequent updates are expected to attract new readers, listeners, and viewers on a consistent basis. This means that anything you might not have gotten right the first time can be refined and adjusted whenever you want it to be adjusted.

In fact, it’s seen as a necessary approach for all content creators who want to immortalize the relevance of their content. Because the web moves fast, and it’s the only way to keep up. The dangers of perfectionism from a content creation perspective is that you will try to get things right the first time and only be relevant for a day. So getting your message out in a coherent and on-brand way is the only real pre-requisite to being ready to publish something new online. Once your message is clear and sensitive to the needs of your audience, everything from how you promote your content, to your SEO will make a lot more sense.

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Please add a comment below if you'd like to discuss this topic. – Rosie