“Hey Ankur, I read your blog posts from 2005 onwards and they were quite unlike who you are today.
Why do you still have them there?
Don’t you care that people will judge you for who you were?”
Someone asked me this earlier this week.
I wrote my first blog post in May 2005.
I posted my first LinkedIn content in 2013.
I posted my first YouTube video in Aug 2017.
I sent my first newsletter in July 2020.
I posted my first IG reel in Jan 2021.
I recorded my first podcast in March 2021.
And guess what was common in all of them?
I think they were all TERRIBLE!
I was an amateur.
I was nervous.
I was rambling.
I was not precise.
And whenever I look at my earlier work, I am always left embarrassed.
So how is it that I have never cared to delete any of my previous work?
How is it that I never care to even edit the mistakes I make in my videos – which are often many?
Because:
My first work reminds me that I started.
My first work reminds me that I took the plunge.
My first work reminds me of how far along I have come.
My first work reminds me of this beautiful quote:
“Courage isn’t about being ready for what you are going to face. It is knowing that you aren’t ready and yet moving forward to face it.”
Here is something you already know of:
Your first work will not be your best.
Your first work will leave you embarrassed.
Your first work will make people laugh, cringe, judge or mock you.
And yet, until there is no first work, there is going to be no other work!
Don’t ask yourself, “Am I ready to start?”
Ask yourself, “Am I ready to improve?”