How to edit.
A valuable and terrifying talent.
Sure, we can talk about commas, but …
What if we talked about preciousness and patience first? Easy to think on when it comes to writing, as those are pentices we have, likely, been reminded to remember, holding fast in mind, when composing. Teachers say this, bosses remind and/or scold as such, and every so often a friend will tease us when we have not – think that bothersome person who points out a social copy or text message typo. I, for one, have had all of the above happen many, many times.
My mother says, “I can’t spell” and my father, “I have terrible handwriting” – as the only child I blend the worst before the best of both my parent’s adages; I hold both prejudices about myself. My orientation to penmanship, spelling, and grammar lacks detail as my inspiration is high and heady. So swiftly dance in ideas and swelling sentences that the pins in the haystacks of my paragraphs are hidden in the bundles of scribbled best intentions. Sweet, but not winning to the early reader. I cannot tell you how many times – HOW MANY TIMES – I have gotten the backhanded critique of my writings by those who commend the attempt, only to shake their heads at how someone so well versed and ambitious can be so sorrily lacking in the basics of English. Not very nobly, I have less increased my aptitude as used the frequent critique as a reason to quit trying. This is not an active choice as much as it is an accepted one, a bit of an ‘why bother, I am not good’ take I would get down on my knees to comfort and kindly correct a child from taking on, and yet I happily exploit towards my adult self.
Sounds like I need a copy editor, right? For sure, but on two counts really – one for the manuscript, the other for the mind, i.e., the first is an easy hire, as the latter is a pride-stoking challenge!
Interesting shares in client sessions this past week, in regards to pride as a sticking point when reflection highlights the importance of further editing.
Topic one: social media!
Everyone is younger, fitter, richer, happier than me! I know it is fake, but I just can’t stop scrolling!
That person’s business looks really great, should I be doing that? Are they selling more than me?
Why did no one like my post?
Do I need to be on TikTok?
Why was I unfollowed?
I know they saw my DM, why won’t they reply?
And on ... and on ... and so on … and so forth. This is about editing, no? Deleting the app could be one approach; another could be to delete the relationship. Wait, no not ‘delete’ but rather rewrite how one thinks of the portal. Perhaps, as an example, we think the persons on social are actual representations of their IRL selves? Of course not, right? Everyone ‘knows’ that. I’ll propose those question to be a bit nasty – aka to sting. (Ouch!). In that, we are inclined to think of ourselves as authentic; an actual mirror of our non-screen lives. In another way: We are ‘real’ the rest are ‘artificial’ people-products, but what if the entire thing is a bit of construction and not necessarily a negative one at that! Social media is entertaining, informative, and takes real skill to execute well. You don’t have to be so hurt if an edit adds a guard rail for driving down, and clicking through.
This is very minimal and surface reframing, and yet it’s the beginning of an editing process to ‘story’ that is well intended but not as yet successful.
Topic two: A bad day at work.
You think all is OK, you have been there a bit, you get along well enough, sure there is learning and next steps, hope, and acceptable frustrations, but all in all, things are pretty cool. You are one of those folx who is happy to help, earnestly aims to do the best for the company and your colleagues while remaining honest and clear as to where you, the company, and the team can grow, and so, improve.
And yet … but then ... there is a day, a week perhaps where a few things, some unnoticed and others that are a bit ‘odd’ go down. No biggie, not huge, just a couple of developments until … it happens. You are called into the office, called out at the meeting, impromptu one-on-one or someone near you is axed.
Ideally, when companies and team observe difficulties, they approach these fuck ups as adventurous opportunities to change, for the better! If folx are messing up or initiatives are failing it is more often than not a process or management problem vs an employee being a dud. Even if the hire is crocked, that is not it alone. Why did we pluck a lemon? Is to be the approach.
Yeah, that is fancy-pants fantasy. The general approach is blame and punishment. It can be clean – like a letting go, or dense, such as a dressing down. A double dip would be if there is a firing and the remaining people, or person, is blamed or long-term shunned. This could be you. And now you have a choice of approaches all of which to properly evaluate is helped by … you guessed it: editing!
You could figure out how to get out. There can be varying levels of immaturity that come forth when these kinds of hiccups occur. However, should you choose to stay, you may need to edit the way you run your day and projects, for a bit or in totality. Yet, more pressing, is the need to do a new draft of how you steer yourself energetically and legacy-wise to your company, team, and superiors. This is where we come to: pride.
Pride is thing that can serve, to an extent, but in the terms of good-grace gaining, can fall super short. Also, not everyone in the room can hold on to their pride if any ground is to be gained in solution seeking. Pride is a problem-solving wet blanket – or is it? Well, no, not if we reframe how to apply it. To stand nobly and either share an understanding of a made mistake and to choose to not bring in blame is an extremely high-level, well edited approach to pride.
Or one could come forth pridefully (again, blame-free), say you see what is being done, re-tossing yourself or another under the fuck-up bus, and think a systematic approach shall be more productive. (Be careful, but too, clean confidence will never do you wrong.)
It is my hope that getting into the weeds a bit there can show that to step aside from habit and some of the familiar by way of editing a project and a headspace can so provoke success and evade preciousness.
Get out the red pen, and hold back on fear, for a healthy, kind-minded, courageous reread can be more expansive that first thought. (Now, where does that comma go again?!)
