My buddy Kelly puts out daily Professional Development (PD) inspirational quotes on Twitter, and I get tagged in one of the shares he does each morning. I love getting these: #MyPDToday

Clarify. Simplify. Focus. Take time to step back – Clarify goals, Simplify actions, Focus intentions. Regular reflection allows one to focus on big goals while making necessary course corrections. Every day is a PD day. #myPDtoday @datruss @tomhudock @JeffreyECourt @DustinSwanson pic.twitter.com/UazmpdYUCu

— Dr. K. Christopherson(he/him)🔥 (@kellywchris) November 7, 2020

Each day we have the opportunity to learn, grow & change. Clarify goals. Simplify actions. Focus Intentions. Set the foundation for a positive week. Where will your journey taking you? Every day is a PD day. #myPdtoday @datruss @vendi55 @JeffreyECourt @DustinSwanson @bircherd pic.twitter.com/wPPmrYg1cr

— Dr. K. Christopherson(he/him)🔥 (@kellywchris) November 9, 2020

I saw a typo in one of his shares today, and knowing that he shares the tweet more than once a day, I sent a Direct Message to him letting him know. His response: “Thanks. Sometimes those things slip by my editor!! 🤣“

No pretence, just appreciation. I’d want to know if the situation was reversed. Sometimes we don’t get this opportunity on Twitter. We tweet something with a typo and before we know it, it has a dozen retweets and a handful of comments… then we see the typo! This can feel a little embarrassing. But it’s going to happen.

This weekend I was re-reading a Daily Ink that I’d written over a month ago. While reading it again I found two (careless) errors. I changed them, but was still rolling my eyes at myself for missing them in the first place. It’s going to happen.

The reason it’s going to happen is because Kelly and I are putting content ‘out there’. We are sharing our thoughts and ideas on social media platforms. We are publishing things without publishers and editors. We try to be careful, but we make mistakes. We aren’t publishing books with typos, that have gone through a rigorous processes to prevent those typos from happening. We are re-reading sentences that our brains developed and understand, without seeing every word. We are imperfect editors of our own work.

Then we hit the ‘publish’ or the ‘Tweet’ button.

It doesn’t have to be perfect.

There might be some self-professed grammar and spelling police that roll their eyes at what we are doing. For example I completely ignore the idea of writing in full paragraphs here. I’ll routinely have paragraphs with just one, two, or three sentences, and I’m sure that drives some people crazy. That’s how I structure ideas, and if it doesn’t work for someone, they don’t need to read my blog.

Publish your work. It won’t be for everybody. It won’t be perfect. It is still worth sharing.