Citizens of the World: A Stoic Podcast for Curious Travelers - Expat Diary: Getting Over Perfectionism to Make Dreams Happen 

Episode Date: November 15, 2019

The Postcard Academy has gone bi-weekly this season as I prepare to launch The Podcast Launch Academy, the ultimate online podcasting course that has been my dream for awhile. But setting this up took a lot longer than I thought it would! I realize now this is mostly because I have been approaching starting this business with a ‘maximizer mindset.’   I’m reading 168 Hours by Laura Vanderkam in it she talks about the difference between maximizers and satisficers.   Maximizers want the best of everything. Satisficers make decisions. They give themselves a few minutes to make a choice and then they go with it. While maximizers will spend weeks trying to decide things like, “What’s the best email service provider? What’s the best website host?” And even when we know our stuff, we’ll go research it again for hours because we want everything to be perfect.   But striving for perfection is never satisfying because it doesn’t lead us anywhere. We just spin our wheels instead of moving. So, in life I aim to get better at making quick decisions instead of over-analyzing things.   Another realization I’ve had is that we’ll never be 100% ready to start something big. Anything worth doing is going to make you nervous, and you just need to jump in and start when you’re scared.   I kept setting launch dates for my course — and then I’d let them slip. I didn’t feel ready. There was so much more to do. I almost did it this time, too, but I stopped myself and made a public announcement that I was launching Podcast Launch Academy on November 19, 2019. I said it out loud to other people and that accountability has made this my most productive week of the year.   Having a hard deadline means certain things need to get done everyday to make it happen. And they’re happening.   When we don’t give ourselves real time limits for projects — big or small — we let time expand and add in all these extra tasks and research that we don’t actually need. Maximizers are so guilty of this. That’s what leads to those gross feelings at the end of a Saturday when we feel like we’ve spent all day working hard on a personal project, but we’ve got nothing to show for it. Because we fell into Maximizer perfectionist spin, and instead of taking action, we go back into research mode.   I did the same thing when I started podcasting, and that’s the primary reason I created a podcasting course — to give others the roadmap I didn’t have to make easy decisions that will help them create a show that listeners love.   To kick off Podcast Launch Academy, I’m hosting a free podcast masterclass. Sign up at sarahmikutel.com/masterclass.Do you ever go blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot? I created a free Conversation Cheat Sheet with simple formulas you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you’re in a meeting or just talking with friends.Download it at sarahmikutel.com/blanknomore and start feeling more confident in your conversations today.

Why, hello, I have missed you so much. This fall, the Postcard Academy has gone a bit biweekly while I prepare for the launch of my new online course, podcast Launch Academy, which opens its doors next week. I'm so excited about this. But I miss you, and I've received a lot of really nice messages from listeners this week, people posting screenshots on Instagram stories about the episode. that they're listening to. I've read reviews on Apple Podcasts. And so this really warms my heart. It means a lot to me to know that you're listening and that you're interested. And so I just wanted to come on here. I'm doing a little

diary experiment. I just plugged my microphone into my iPhone. Usually I'm working at my computer. But I just wanted to say hi and tell you what I've been working on and what's been taking me so long. So launching this course has been my dream for a while and setting this up just took a lot longer than I was expecting. And I realize now that this is mostly because I was approaching my business with a maximizer mindset. Right now I'm reading 168 hours by Laura Vander Kim. And in it she talks about the difference between maximizers and satisfizers. Maximizers want the best of everything, and the satisfizers actually make decisions. They give themselves a few minutes to make a choice, and then they go with it, while maximizers will spend weeks agonizing over what's the best email service provider, what's the best website

host, and even when we know our stuff will go back and research it again and again for hours because we want everything to be perfect. But striving for perfection is never satisfying because it doesn't lead us anywhere. We just keep spinning our wheels instead of moving forward. So in life, I aim to become better at making quick decisions instead of over-analyzing everything. Another realization that I had is we're never going to be 100% ready to start something big. anything worth doing is going to work us up a bit and just make us nervous and we just have to be okay with that and jump in even when we're still scared. I kept setting launch dates for my course, but then I would let them slip because I didn't feel ready. There was so much more to do.

I almost did that this time, but I stopped myself because I made a public announcement that I was launching podcast, Launch Academy on November 19th. I said it out loud to other people. that accountability has, you know, made this the most productive week I've had all year. So I have a specific deadline. Certain things need to happen and they're happening. When we don't give ourselves these real time limits for projects, big or small, we just let time expand in. We get, we assign ourselves all of these extra tasks and research that would be great if we had a thousand years to do all of this stuff. But we don't. Maximizers are so guilty of this. And that's what leads us to have those gross feelings at the end of a Saturday when we feel like we spent

all day working on a personal project. But then we've got nothing to show for it. We're like, oh my gosh, what did I even do today? I feel like I've been working all day. And there's nothing. There's nothing to show for it. And that's because we fell into this perfectionist research spin. I'm pretty laid back. I used to think I was laid back with everything, but I realized in recent years that I actually am a perfectionist in certain things that the things that I really care about. But it's not serving me to be this obsessive about things. And that's why I'm starting my podcasting course is I want to help people who have the same tendencies as me make decisions. I just want to give them the roadmap that they need. So they don't have to think about. what mics do they need. How do I do this? How do I do that? I just want to show them exactly how to create a podcast that listeners love. And I was thinking the other day, why when I work for another company, I'm always rated an outstanding employee. But when I'm working for myself or on my own projects, I get stuck in this analysis, you know, perfectionist circle. And I realized, you know,

when you're working for someone else, you know exactly what you need to be doing. You have specific deadlines, whereas with your own stuff, you make the deadlines. And I used to think I was really bad at this, that I was really bad at productivity on a personal level. But then I remembered growth mindset and that I actually never properly learned about productivity in school. I never learned about it at all, actually. Or how rituals and plans can give us not only momentum in our lives, but a sense of calm. So this is something that I'm researching, that I'm practicing more, and I want to bring on more guests that can help us live our best lives. So in a future episode, you'll be hearing from Laura Vandercom, that author, from 168

hours, and she's written several other books on how we can organize our time. So we're actually spending it on the things we want to spend it on, on the things that matter, and less time on the things that don't matter to us. And in case you didn't know, 168 hours is how many hours we all have in a week. So how are you spending the majority of this time? Are you enjoying your life? Or are you always feeling like I don't have enough time to do what I want to do? Laura says that we actually have a lot more time than we think.

And so she's going to help us find that. One more thing. A lot of listeners have said to me that they are very interested in living abroad, but they are just not sure how to make it happen logistically when it comes to work visas. I've been doing this podcast for a few years now and can say that aside from finding a company that will sponsor you, the easiest way to make a living abroad is by starting your own online business. I'm especially a fan of online courses. I love online learning. I'm starting my own online course myself. And this kind of

business not only gives you the freedom you need to work from anywhere, but it also makes getting a visa easier because it's easier to get freelancers visa, a visa for entrepreneurs, or even like a tourist visa where you're just working online and all your clients are somewhere else, rather than going to a country and trying to get a job the way a local would. Because a lot of countries don't, they're not hiring foreigners and that way you need to have very special visas. So So starting an online business is a great way to go. And as you may have noticed, the majority of the people I interview on this podcast are entrepreneurs who moved to a new country, started their own thing, typical immigrant success stories. So on the Postcard Academy, in addition to travel-focused episodes, I plan on doing more shows that will give you the skills that you need to make living a prod and living a location independent life possible for you.

And I also want to do some shows that will just simply improve our overall well-being because we only have 168 hours in a week. And I want to help you make the most of them wherever you are in this world. That's all for now. Thank you so much for listening and for being a fan of this show. Have a beautiful week wherever you are. Do you ever go blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot? I created a free conversation sheet sheet with simple formulas that you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you're in a meeting or just talking with friends. Download it at sarahmicatel.com slash blank no more.