Trust your writing instincts

I’m not sending you what I originally wrote for this week’s issue.

It’s sitting in my Google drive with the other discarded writing I’ll never publish. 

It was 800 words on how to nail 'About’ pages, and was about as thrilling as a PowerPoint presentation on the history of beige paint.

I should have just sent it. I’d done the work, and it’s not like I’ve got loads of spare time. If I had time to write two newsletters a week, I’d… well, send you two newsletters a week.

I’ve been working hard on my upcoming course about crafting the right messaging for any audience. What with that, a car crash, a virus, my Head of Marketing and Comms role, ghostwriting a book, working on a novel and parenting a 3-year-old, time is, well, a bit tight.

But the post I originally wrote wasn’t hitting the spot. And if it wasn’t hitting the spot while I was writing, it wouldn’t hit the spot while you were reading it. So let’s see where I’m gonna go with this…

This week, along with a virus, I’ve been afflicted with a nasty case of Imposter Syndrome. This insidious little virus has a habit of attacking my self-confidence and making me doubt my instincts. 

Now I’m out the other side, I realise that trusting your instincts when it comes to what to say (and write) and what not to say (and write) is everything.

Trusting your own inner voice doesn’t mean you won’t make mistakes. It just means you’ll own them if the outcome doesn’t quite work out.

This is how I see if when it comes to trusting your instincts and standing by a decision:

You literally can’t lose.

There’s a lot of information and a lot of people with opinions out there and the noise can be deafening.

It’s hard to listen to your own voice with all that noise going on. But remember this: If you write something – or get feedback – that doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t. 

Change it, start again or speak up. It’s important that you do. 🫡