Recently, I’ve been listening to more podcasts. This started when I listened to Serial, a podcast that told the week-by-week story about the death of a high-school student in Baltimore in 1999. Even though Serial was a non-work-related podcast, I felt lost after the final episode. Not only did I not know if Adnan was guilty, but I also didn’t know what podcast I would listen to next.
Since it was a new year, I decided to search for a few favorite topics: solo-business ownership, productivity, habits, and personal growth. My search led to Jeff Sander’s podcast, The 5AM Miracle. Not only did the title of his podcast intrigue me, but because I believe in the power of a productive morning, Jeff’s manta of “dominating your day before breakfast” resonated with me. Since the time when I subscribed to the podcast I have listened to several of Jeff’s interviews with business owners, productivity gurus, athletes, writers, and entrepreneurs. In the podcast, they all discuss their morning routines and starting their day with intention. As a result of the 5 AM Miracle podcast I made tweaks in my morning routine to start my day with more intention. I experimented with the things I had to do in the morning to get my day off to a great start.
In addition, many of Jeff’s guests spoke of a recurring theme: the concept of taking action, even imperfect action, to bring their business idea, or their next project to life. One interviewee even repeated the quote, “Don’t let perfection be the enemy of the good.” They’ve seen it all too often that when in pursuit of the things we want to do, we don’t get started, or worse we don’t finish, because things aren’t perfect, we aren’t perfect, and we’re not guaranteed perfect results.
I am in the middle of writing my second cookbook and have made good progress with the project overall. But, as anyone who has written a cookbook knows, these projects are far from perfect. I have about ninety days to complete my manuscript and still have about fifteen recipes to collect and over eighty recipes to test and photograph. Thirty percent of the recipes tested need to be tweaked and a few I’m not sure I’ll include in the final manuscript. During testing, a cheese spread curdled and a salad that should have contained spinach in the photograph didn’t, because the spinach was never mentioned in the instructions, so I left it out. I baked a batch of scones and the timing was off because I cut the scones the wrong size. (That’s why it’s called testing.) But, in spite of these imperfections I continue to move forward knowing that all of this can be fixed and that this time next year I’ll see my published cookbook.
If you dream of writing a cookbook, or a cookbook proposal, please know that the only way to move forward is with imperfect action. Stick to your goals, write, test, and develop recipes. And, “Don’t let perfection be the enemy of the good.” It’s important to keep moving forward, even if everything isn’t perfect. It’s the only way to get a project or book done.
Cookbook author and culinary dietitian Maggie Green coaches aspiring cookbook authors in the process of writing cookbooks, cookbook proposals, and building their author platform. Download her checklist “Am I Ready to Write A Cookbook?”.