Hello,
I have a friend who, as soon as he learns something new, feels this urge to tell everyone he knows about it. Oftentimes, it rubs me the wrong way, like maybe he should take some time and internalize the newfound advice before sharing it with the world. These days, though, I‘m thinking we should all be more like my friend.
Annie Dillard has this quote about writing, that we should write it all—“spend it all”—every time, no matter what, holding nothing back. Because if you don’t do that, if you hoard your work for later, she says you will return to the safe where you kept it and all you will find is ash. It’s a startling reminder that life is short and we should always show up to do our best work every day.
These days, the Internet makes it easy to share our ideas with the world—whether that be through an article, eBook, podcast, or online course. So why is it, then, that very few of us are doing our best, most generous work?
My belief is that it is because we are selfish and lazy, waiting for a "better" time to share what we know. And so, we wait. And wait and wait and wait. But if there was ever a time to do this, ever a year to not hold back our best work, isn’t it now? Wouldn’t this be it?
We may not get a later, or when it comes time to do our best work, to share our most generous creations with others, we may not be able to so easily access this information.
I want to submit to you that right now you know enough about something to help someone.
We are all gifted with this “curse of knowledge,” a secret blindspot that shields us from realizing how much we actually know about a subject. What this means is that we often discount our own understanding.
But the truth is that if you’ve lived any amount of life, then you know more than you realize about something—and the only way to realize it is to share it and see how it resonates with others. As it turns out, the things that are obvious to us actually are amazing to others.
Where do you start? Start here. Start now. With what you know. Trusting that it is more than enough and you’ll learn whatever else you need as you go.
Be generous and comprehensive, sharing as much as you can, as specifically as you can in a way that will help others.
Whether it’s a podcast or a blog or a course, it’s time for you to stop hoarding and offer your ideas to the world, as an offering to those who need it. This is your work; this is how you give back to a world that has been kind enough to let you live in it for so long.
If you have learned something, if you have survived a tragedy, if you know more than most about a particular subject, you have a responsibility to share it.
If you are willing to be brave and decide to be ready—because readiness is a decision, not a state of mind—then let’s go.
I’d like you to join me for a FREE five-day challenge next week in which I will walk you through the following:
I will email you five daily lessons in which I will share with you what I’ve learned in the past ten years of selling my own ideas and information on the Internet.
You’ll walk away with:
I’m partnering with my friends at Thinkific on this, so you can get free access to their software that will allow you to sell anything from a PDF to a video course online. Of course, you aren’t required to use Thinkific for the challenge, but I’ll be walking you through how to do that during one of the lessons.
What do you say? Are you in? Just click here to get started.
Hope you'll join me,
Jeff
P.S. Don't miss out on this free 5-day challenge. Click here to save your spot.
