“Perfection is the enemy of progress” – Winston Churchill (maybe???)

If you go back and read the titular article for this blog, you’ll notice I am very open that this isn’t my first attempt at creating a self development empire. There have been many iterations. 

The first one I can think of was the “dreams come true” Facebook group I created in high school. My cousin and I created a brand called Every Breath Productions and we were writing episodes to record but we never put anything out. Eventually I would take the Every Breath name and put out episodes that I would consider to be very half-asses efforts. Deadly logo though eh?

The best work I’ve done has been through this blog, but I also don’t think it’s the highest quality it could be right now. I just needed to start. It doesn’t have to be perfect to start. Waiting for perfection is a shot in the foot in and of itself. 

I believe starting is the most important step. You don’t know how it is going to feel before you start. Whatever the venture is, you may not enjoy it as much as you think you do, but you’ll never know if you don’t start. 

I am very happy I’m not a perfectionist, because I can only imagine the battle inside a perfectionist’s head in every single act they attempt. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love perfecting something, but it almost never happens on the first try. 

I’ve been performing live music since I can remember, and I can confidently play a four hour show as a solo act and keep the audience engaged the entire time. But if you saw my first ever hour long show you would have thought they had the wrong guy on stage. A random fellow off the street that just knows a little guitar one might’ve thought.

Now, if you come see my live show, you would think I never make mistakes. I know I’m never perfect on stage. Sometimes I forget the words to songs and sometimes I miss a chord here and there, but the audience hardly ever knows. One skill I picked up along the way was owning my mistakes. If I forget the words, instead of faking it or singing a different part of the song, I make sure the crowd knows that I KNOW I messed up. I found it works in my favour because I come off as a genuine person that can laugh at himself.

When I got the chance to join Great Northern Railway as one of the lead singers, I was nervous for so many reasons. I had never been on a big stage with a band and I didn’t really know the etiquette. I was up there with some of the greatest musicians in my area and they all had lingo I had never heard of. I wasn’t ready, but I just went in and tried to play the part of professional singer. Now, I know exactly what I want in my monitor and how to talk to the sound guy!

One of the reasons the first iteration of Every Breath Productions stalled was because my partner was never ready to put anything out. It had to be perfect. We recorded one episode where we had notes and then flew off the cuff. I liked it. I was ready to put it out, but he wasn’t. He wanted the video quality to look professional. He wanted the audio to be more professional. 

Eventually, he stopped putting in the work and we never put anything out. I believe the kicker was when we went back into the catalogue of Rob Dial’s The Mindset Mentor Podcast to listen to his first few episodes. The quality wasn’t anywhere near as good as it currently is, but it still wasn’t the worst. It was just better than what we had in quality.

That’s a lesson I never forgot. Rob Dial just started doing it. Wanna guess where his podcast ranks today?

I’ve mentioned comedian Bill Burr and his “When you go after a dream” speech previously. It is another one of those speeches that fires me up. (Note to self: make a compilation of links to speeches that changed my life.) I do recall in another semblance of Burr’s ramblings he discussed how his podcast came to be a success. At first, it was just little ten minute blurbs basically to promote his upcoming shows. He just kept doing it and now it’s one of his greatest sources of income.

When I decided to start this, I wanted to have at least ten articles written before I started posting them. Once that was done, I just jumped. If I waited and waited, this article probably wouldn’t have reached you today.

Same thing with the podcast. I’m learning as I go. I have very little knowledge about podcast studio and audio equipment, but I know more now than I knew when I started!

Whatever it is that you are considering starting, just do it. Start now. Learn on the go. Ask questions later.

The Beatles didn’t write “Hey Jude” as their first song. Michael Jordan didn’t make his first basket out of the womb. Bill Burr’s first joke didn’t get a huge laugh.

Nobody is gonna save you, especially if you never try anything for fear of it being a failure. Just start, and the opportunities and experiences will pour into your reality.