25 Jul Content Creation? Don’t Look Back in Anger!

Dwelling on our past (writing) mistakes does nothing to improve the present

Written by Bryan Szabo

4 min read

I recently spent some time cleaning out my hard-drive, and I couldn’t resist the opportunity to stroll down memory lane. I thought I’d enjoy the scenery. I was mistaken.

For the first time in years, I revisited some of the content I produced when I was still new to the game. I remembered being quite proud of myself at the time, so I expected to see all the hallmarks of a promising young copywriter. Instead, I saw the tell-tale signs of an amateur.

My writing felt ham-fisted and clumsy, hackneyed and cliché. Here and there, there were sentences or turns of phrase that I could still be proud of, but these were the exception. I blushed to see myself as a young copywriter making the same mistakes I routinely correct as a mature one.

I had forgotten the chief rule of reviewing work that’s in our rear-view mirror: Don’t look back in anger.

Don’t Be So Hard on Yourself

We all are, of course, our own worst critics. Whether we’re reviewing the distant or the recent past, we scrutinize the work of our own hands far more intensely than the work of others. This goes double when critiquing and correcting others is part of your job description (as it is part of mine).

When I read what I produced all those years ago, I forgot for a moment that what I was looking at were my first tentative steps as a writer. Shaky though they were, these steps were necessary – without them, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

I needed to make these mistakes and to learn from them to become better at my craft.

To Err Is Human

We are all fallible, and, equally, we all have the power to improve ourselves by learning from our mistakes. Sometimes we need to make the same mistake a few times before we identify and address the behaviour or mindset at the root of the issue. Once we’ve well and truly learned our lesson, our past missteps and misadventures can be embarrassing or even painful to think about – but this is because we are looking back in anger.

When we assess past work with frustration, we are judging our past selves from the perspective of our current selves. Instead of asking yourself, “How could I have been so foolish?” ask, “Given what I know now, would I make the same mistake(s) again?” Provided the answer is a resounding NO, you’re on the right track.

Fight your tendency to look back in anger. Instead, look back with an appreciation for just how far you’ve come.

Biased Against Ourselves

Our tendency to harshly judge our own efforts frequently trips us up. Try as we might to examine our work objectively, we are biased against ourselves. This is precisely why it helps to find a second pair of eyes that you can trust.

Those of us who use content in its many forms to address our markets, we’ve all learned to appreciate the value of fresh eyes during our careers. We all, at some point or another, need an unbiased perspective.

For authors this is particularly important. Authors who are inching closer and closer to the publication stage learn that familiarity breeds contempt. The longer we are engrossed in a project, the more our ideas and words seem to lose their lustre and newness.

As a writer you may have agonised over some passages for so long that you can recite them from memory. You’ve lost the ability to encounter your work with fresh eyes – to see it through not your own eyes but those of your future readers.

Look Back to See How Far You’ve Come

Agonise over missteps behind you and you’ll slow your progress to a crawl.

It’s part of our role as editors to bring fresh and unbiased eyes to our clients’ work, but also to remind them (and keep reminding them) just how far they have come. Each new version of a manuscript or any other piece of marketing or business content is a step forward.

We might not be able to stop ourselves from being our own worst critics, but we can stop ourselves from looking back in anger and instead appreciate our own efforts and progress.

Whether you’re an author piloting a manuscript towards publication or a busy business creating marketing and business content: you’ll benefit from a second set of eyes and an unbiased perspective. Whether you’re on your first draft or your fiftieth, editorial feedback and guidance will have you looking forward to your next draft.

And the fruits of your (writing) labour will taste ever so sweet.

I promise you.

If you’d rather find out how far you can get than stay frustrated, email us to find out how we can make creating any written content an enjoyable and smooth process for you.