Old Habits Die Hard

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

Old Habits Die Hard

College was great.

It was a time of intellectual growth and stimulation, the exploration of life’s possibilities, impossible flirting, cramming for exams and of course major post exam celebrations.

I liked studying so well, I went on to grad school in Monterey, California.  It was more serious, studying was much more intense and the commitment required was far greater but it still was a raucously amazing time in my life, one where I formed lifelong friendships.

One thing about being in school was that I learned how to write well, follow grammatical rules, spell check (without the benefit of a spell checker) and proof read my work.  (Yes – I went to school THAT long ago).

Then I entered the work force.

Your resumé had to be perfect; no typos, proper punctuation with concise but descriptive hyperbole.  Learning how to position the smallest achievement as a stunning accomplishment and market the most basic skill set as an invaluable expert became a handy tool that I would need throughout my career in corporate America.

The business world sets great importance on “content excellence”.   Like my school days,  content must be perfect.  Your facts must be accurate and defensible and you must simultaneously be able to stretch or contract what you say depending on the length of the content that is expected.

Presentation is everything – it’s almost more important than what you say.  Not only your content be typo-free with exemplary punctuation but there should be no spacing issues, there must be proper margins and an attractive readable font. And if it’s a presentation – there should be the lightest sprinkle of humor to prevent the audience from falling asleep.

OMG – so much to think of!

I spent HOURS, working on reports for my director and even longer working on PowerPoints that she would use as her presentations.

So it isn’t surprising that when I left all that to become a blogger I didn’t understand that my story or message was paramount and that my endless edits and attempts at “perfecting” my style were largely a waste of time.

I had no clue that hitting “PUBLISH” as often as I could, was far more important than  looking for “just the right word” to describe something that people might not even consider.

I had to unlearn 7 years of schooling and 20+ years of business protocol to understand that people on the internet are much more forgiving than academia and  far less critical than the business community.

Yes – your facts must be accurate and of course your content must be interesting, informative or funny.

And I know old habits die hard but you have to “let go” of the rest or you’ll be left at the starting line.  Publish or perish!

Don’t dwell over it – it’s not your baby, it’s a blog.  The comments and “shares” you get will be based on the quality of your subject matter and how much your topic touches them – NOT the beauty of your prose.

In fact, the more conversational you are, the more accessible you will be for your audience. And you’ll find ‘letting go’ very liberating.  So let those old habits die.

Blog often and publish often!  Your audience is waiting.

Live from Monterey, Californa