Complete honesty, folks. I’ve been struggling with my latest book. I’ve written it once, done a pass of edits, and even re-written most of it. But now I’m thinking of scrapping all 32,000 words and changing the whole focus of the book.
I haven’t shown any of it to my agent yet. Frankly, I’m still trying to impress her since we haven’t actually completed a full project together yet. So I wanted to make it perfect before sending it to her.
But I realized I was about to pour another set of countless hours into this project, and hadn’t even given my writing a fair chance. I might potentially waste time because of my insecurity.
So I’m asking for help. I’m being honest about my feelings for the project. I had the last 70% of the book. And she needs to know that. I’m sending her the manuscript to get her take. I’m hoping it’s not as bad as I think it is. But maybe it is horrible. Time will tell.
But I’m glad I humbled myself enough to ask for help. I was tempted to hold my cards close to my chest…not to reveal my hand. I didn’t want to look like a chump.
But you can’t get real help unless you’re willing to embarrass yourself a bit.
- Need help on a business idea? Real help requires telling people everything you’re thinking.
- Need help overcoming a sin? You need to be honest with people about where you’re struggling.
- Need help in your marriage? You have to tell people the dumb thing you said to your spouse that started the huge argument.
It’s tempting to hold back. It’s tempting to pretend we have it all together. But we work better together in community. And real community requires honesty.
Are you willing to get embarrassed in order to embrace the benefits of community? It requires humility. It requires transparency. But it yields real benefits.