I’m a massive Seinfeld fan, and in particular I love the antics of Jerry’s sidekick and oldest friend George Costanza. Other than in one memorable episode, where George did the exact opposite of all his instincts (and enjoyed rare career and romantic success), for the main part George was an overthinking, paranoid walking disaster.
You’ve probably never wondered about this scenario, so I’ve saved you the trouble! George was the kind of guy who would expend a lot of energy flailing around and yelling, while ending up with very little to show for it.
George would not be a prolific content publisher. It would surprise me if he got anything out the door at all. George spent a lot of time talking himself out of things, a textbook indecisive and fearful person who didn’t embrace the concept that published is better than perfect.
Picture George at Monk’s coffee shop, pen and pad in hand, determined to write out a bunch of great ideas for his new content marketing campaign. Lots of scribbling, frowning, crossing out, cursing and tossing pages aside would ensue.
Any inkling of a good idea would be second-guessed into oblivion, with George sabotaging his efforts, and ironically realising his fears of failure because of it.
Adding to his frustration, Jerry, Elaine or Kramer would slide into the booth and reel off a bunch of fantastic ideas with little thought or self-consciousness. The scene would end with George scrambling to his feet and rushing out the door while yelling “George is getting upset!”.
Let’s face it, we all have a bit (or a lot!) of George lurking inside us, ready to self-sabotage or second guess everything we do. We let our lack of confidence or tendency to overanalyse get in the way of putting ourselves out there. This is especially true of content marketing, where we are publishing our thoughts, opinions and ideas to the world (or as far as the LinkedIn algorithm allows it to go).
Aiming for perfection to allay the fear of failure ensures your content program grinds to a halt and nothing gets published. Instead, just put yourself, and your content, out there. See what resonates, learn from what doesn’t. And once you take that difficult first step, you’ll never look back.
The easiest and fastest way to combat your fear of publishing is to get some professional help. Not the kind of help that requires lying on a couch in a therapist’s office (something Geroge tried a couple of times, unsuccessfully of course), but the kind that helps you get great content created and published regularly and consistently.
We’re here to help you with that. Or if not, maybe you’d just like to chat about your favourite Seinfeld episode. FYI mine is ‘The Strike”, where we were introduced to Festivus, Frank Costanza’s wacky alternative to Christmas.