A few months into our YouTube channel when we’d gotten better at things like editing, sound, and lighting, James suggested we go back and remake the older videos. I suggested we not.
Those older videos are not pretty, but they’re not terrible either. They still contain valuable information for authors. Since that time, we’ve created a ton more content, equally valuable. Content that would not have happened if instead we spent our time going back and remaking all the things that weren’t perfect.
I would even argue that we would not have gotten better had we been constantly going backward. Instead we would have been stuck in a loop of about five of the same videos. Over and over and over again.
This is the same advice I give to authors. Once you finish that first book it’s time to move on. Sure it’s not perfect and presumably you have learned a lot since then. Hopefully you have. Your next book is stronger and your fifth is even stronger. Going back to that first book is just that, going backwards. It’s slowing your forward momentum and pulling you away from future and even current success.
In an ideal situation we learn with each new step we take. Can you imagine if once a baby learned to walk we suggested they go back and now learn how to crawl better? That would be absurd. As absurd as spending a lifetime reworking the same old book instead of embracing the new, stronger, better you (and book).
A few months into our YouTube channel when we’d gotten better at things like editing, sound, and lighting, James suggested we go back and remake the older videos. I suggested we not.
Those older videos are not pretty, but they’re not terrible either. They still contain valuable information for authors. Since that time, we’ve created a ton more content, equally valuable. Content that would not have happened if instead we spent our time going back and remaking all the things that weren’t perfect.
I would even argue that we would not have gotten better had we been constantly going backward. Instead we would have been stuck in a loop of about five of the same videos. Over and over and over again.
This is the same advice I give to authors. Once you finish that first book it’s time to move on. Sure it’s not perfect and presumably you have learned a lot since then. Hopefully you have. Your next book is stronger and your fifth is even stronger. Going back to that first book is just that, going backwards. It’s slowing your forward momentum and pulling you away from future and even current success.
In an ideal situation we learn with each new step we take. Can you imagine if once a baby learned to walk we suggested they go back and now learn how to crawl better? That would be absurd. As absurd as spending a lifetime reworking the same old book instead of embracing the new, stronger, better you (and book).
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