Way back in August of 2015 I received an email in my inbox that made me perk up my ears.
Now, I have to tell you, probably 90 percent of requests from strangers that I receive via email go straight into the trash. But this email, even though it was a request from a stranger, and it was a little on the long side, got my attention.
And this woman, Denise Logan of Chase What Matters, got an invitation to be on my podcast.
That said, it has taken a year and a half for the recording to go live, which is really embarrassing.
Even more embarrassing, there are actually five more conversations from that same time period that are still waiting to be published.
Why has it taken so long?
(And by the way, I published another conversation with Alessandra Wall a couple of weeks ago, which I said in that recording was from Fall of 2016. Correction: that conversation was actually recorded in 2015.)
Well, if you’ve been following me for any time at all, you can guess why these recordings have been languishing on my hard drive: perfectionist paralysis.
In other words, I got it in my head that I needed not only to edit the episodes perfectly, but provide transcripts, or at least phenomenal show notes, all of which are extremely time-consuming.
So as each week’s podcast deadline approached, instead of digging into the vault of recordings, I’d default to putting out a monologue. Because I know how to produce a monologue in a way that won’t take me two or three (or more) full days of my time!
It just seemed like so much less work, so those wonderful recorded conversations have languished all this time.
Sigh…
Thankfully, there’s an antidote to perfectionist paralysis: intentional imperfectionism.
In other words, allowing myself — and forgiving myself — for being human.
Accepting that maybe it’s okay to put podcast episodes out without transcripts and comprehensive show notes.
(In this case, this preamble functions as the show notes. If you’re reading, you’ll really want to listen to the recording to hear the juicy conversation!)
But back to that email that landed in my inbox a year and a half ago. This is what Denise sent me that got me to invite her onto the show:
Hi, Melissa, hope you are well! I am responding to your post on the FB page looking for podcast guests who can talk about how creativity changed their life. I can chat about a couple of different angles on this:
- After 15 years as a lawyer, I bought a floral dress that changed the way I saw myself and I ultimately ran off in my motorhome and for several years where I did a different job FOR FREE once a month just to see what someone else’s life was like. Dairy farm, lobster boat, furniture factory – sure changed the way I saw the world around me outside of my former intellectual prison and opened the way to a much more creative life.
- I “accidentally” founded The Dream Box Project – we make boxes chock-full of school supplies, toiletries and toys for children living in long-term foster care. Each box is decorated by the volunteer who packed it and contains a message of hope for the child. Last year we packed 11,000 Dream Boxes and they are changing the lives of the volunteers who make them and the children who receive them.
- I’ve been doing a series of talks called “I’m OK with how I am … even if how I am is not OK” – Healing from the Loss of Your Dream. Although every one of us will face some kind of a loss (illness, betrayal, economic hardship, divorce, death) which signals the loss of a dream we held dear, most of us end up face to face with loss tragically unprepared and so are those around us. The art of grieving is the greatest gift I’ve given myself and the people I love.
- What happens when your old answer to the question “What Do You Do?” no longer fits? If you thought you are what you do, and suddenly you don’t do it anymore, do you not exist? Finding new and creative ways to answer that question has been my own work and that of my clients. Now, if you ask me “What Do You Do?” I’ll answer you “I’m The Sparkle Fairy” and if that made you laugh, I just did my job!
If any of these feel like an interesting fit for your show, I’d be happy to have a chat.
Big sparkly hug,
Denise
THAT is an example of how to write an email to an “influencer” and get them to sit up and take notice. Denise had something to offer that was super helpful and interesting to me. She wasn’t just trying to get something from me — she had something to give me.
She had a way to give me an opportunity for an easy “yes.” So I did.
Our conversation was so juicy and rich, I’m almost glad it took me so long to publish it (not really, but almost), because I got to listen to it again like I was hearing it for the first time. I hope you’ll have a listen too, and get some sparkle from Denise Logan, the Sparkle Fairy.
Enjoy!
Resources in this Episode
Denise’s website, chase-what-matters.com
How Will You Measure Your Life? by Clayton Christensen (aff)
The Number by Lee Eisenberg (aff)
Thanks for Listening!
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