Why you don't have to be perfect to share your story and create human connection

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Hello, lovely ones. Jo Giff here.

Today I want to have a quick chat about why you don't need to be perfect to share your story and to create human connections. So this topic actually just came up from my Connect Your Brilliance group, which is my container for working with unboxed leaders and amazing people to get their message out to the world and to connect to their brilliance. And in our community this morning, this question came up and I jumped on in there and spoke to the group. And this is a wider message as well.

It's something I talk about quite a lot, that you can share from where you are, right? So I've been sharing online for, let's say since 2006, 2005. So 15 years I've been sharing pieces of my life and my story online. It started off on BlogSpot, if you remember that. And then it's gone to…I then grew my blog, Dextrous Diva back in the day and I've been sharing online ever since on Facebook, on Instagram, on YouTube, on my website, on my podcasts in various forums, right?

All along the way. I've been at different steps of my development, both personally, spiritually, professionally, in the way that I communicate all of these things. My first videos were cringingly embarrassing. The way that I communicate and the way that I write is really different now, but that's okay. And in fact, I've got the honour of having lots of people who have actually followed me for a long time, who've seen that transition, who've seen me grow as a person, who's seen my work, evolve and change, who's seen that whole growth.

And here's the thing, nobody comes out of the gates, all sorted, all set. Everything's perfect. We can now share our story because everything in life is sorted. It never, never is. We're always on a journey, always. And it might be different parts of your life that are messy. It might be the whole lot of your life is messy. And you might not want to share when you're really in the deep mess, because that might just not feel right for you. You might choose what you want to share from when you're in the deep mess, but don't wait until you've got everything sorted. It's not inauthentic to share from where you are and to say, "This is where I'm at." Whether it's sharing your skills or sharing part of your life or whatever it is because we're always learning.

So people might come to you because they're the stage behind you in whatever it is, in their skills, in their work, in their development and they need to see what the next step is. And if you can share what you've just learned, what you're going through. If you can share your body of work as you're working on it, you take people on that journey with you and that feels also really human and really normal and really raw and really connected because you are sharing from that space. You're not sharing from the end stage where you had a career and you got to the end and you're totally brilliant and now you're going to start sharing it. That might work for some people, but if you can share from where you are and take us on that journey with you, then we trust you. Then we see your progress. When things go wrong, let us know.

Certainly have boundaries around what you talk about. I don't share everything online, believe it or not. I share a lot but I don't share everything online because some things are deeply personal and I don't talk about them. But you can choose where that boundary lies, but don't hold back from sharing your story, your words, your voice in your fields of work, especially if you're here to make an impact in the world. If you know that what you do in this world is to change people's lives, don't hold back from sharing your words and your voice, because you feel like you're not perfect. Because you feel like your videos aren't sorted, or you worry about your words being perfect when you write, or you're not sure that everything is going to look all polished. Don't worry about it.

Your message will hit home if the energy behind the message as well is sent with the love in which you intend it, it will hit home with the right people and they will notice your journey as things get more polished, as you find your voice more, as you develop, right? So if you are sharing your skills and you're building your audience and you have a body of work to share, don't feel bad about having the perfection in there. You don't need to have it like…[hi bro]…You can share from wherever you are, right?

So if you're learning something. One of the most valuable things you can do is to take people on the journey as you're learning, right? Is to be talking through what you've just learned because that's when it's freshest in your mind as well and it helps people come along with you. So whether you're developing something new, whether you're working on a new framework for your clients, if you're discovering something new for yourself, you can take us there with you and it might feel deeply awkward at first. Honestly, if you go back to my old YouTube videos, I was really, really shy and now I just jump on and talk to you guys about anything anytime and that's fine with me because I just feel comfortable doing that, right? But just take us on that journey with you. Know that you don't have to have everything perfect, no one does. And just be brave enough to start and to create your human connection with your peeps from where you are right now. Okay. Happy Thursday my lovelies. Have an amazing day. See you later.