EP. 2 | Breakfast Analogy For The Win

I want to tell you a story about a conversation I heard recently that rocked my world.

Spoiler alert: It’s about breakfast food but you don’t have to eat breakfast to benefit from the information shared. 

Now to be transparent, this isn’t a conversation I overheard in a coffee shop, restaurant, or even at my local co-working space, it was an online conversation between three people whose work I admire. 

You might like them, too. 

It was Simon Sinek, Brene Brown, and Adam Grant. 

More important than the people was the topic. It started out by Simon talking about pancakes. 

If you’ve ever cooked pancakes I’m sure you’ll be nodding your head in agreement shortly. 

He was mentioning how the first pancake is NEVER one that you are going to serve to your guest. It’s a test run… a warming up of the griddle… a necessary step to getting to the second and third pancakes. 

That first messy pancake is for you…it’s less than beautiful but by creating it, it allows you to serve up something much more appealing to your guests. The second, third, and fourth pancakes are better than the first – Every. Single.Time.  You simply can’t skip the first.

What Brene quickly did was tie this into the experience of book writing. And it’s brilliant – and true.The first draft of our book is just like the first pancake. It’s messy. It’s not what’s going to be served up but it is a necessary step in getting to the beautiful stuff that we DO feel great about sharing. 

Maybe it’s because I cook pancakes that this analogy really struck me as the best I’ve heard as it relates to book writing. 

Ann Lamont’s reference to shitty first drafts is more commonly shared. And while that’s effective, the pancake just really brought it home for me. 

So much so that I *WANTED* to go back and insert it into a story share in Profit Write. Yikes!

Here's the thing I want you to know: It probably won’t be a pancake story, but I promise, something like this is going to happen to you, too. Your manuscript will be edited and in its final layout review and there is going to be something you want to add – or subtract – or word differently.  

It happens to Ev-er-y-one. 

But here’s the thing. Just like I had to do, you need to keep moving forward with the work you’ve done. It’s been edited and proofread. And every single little change that’s made from this point can introduce additional, unintended errors, not to mention slow your book from getting to print. 

But you’ll have a plan. 

And that plan will be to use all of those things to include in behind-the-scenes social posts, or blogs, or newsletter stories, or maybe just as I have here in your own private pre-launch podcast. 

The takeaways from this episode are two-fold:

1.  See your first draft like your first pancake. 

       AND 

2. Keep a file of additional notes, stories, and stats you are tempted to edit your manuscript to include even though it’s ready for print. 

All this talk about pancakes has left me hungry. I’m gonna run and get a bite to eat. 

Maybe you’ll do the same. 

See you back here soon… but before you go, I’m curious:

What, if anything, would you add to your pancakes – fruit or chocolate chips or just a lil butter& syrup? Inquiring minds want to know.