I'm Not Perfect... and That's Okay #ProgressOverPerfection

I found out something that made me laugh, cringe, and then get honest: I thought I’d been uploading video versions of my podcast the whole time, but most places were getting audio only, and YouTube wasn’t set up the way I believed it was. So I’m owning the mistake, explaining what happened with YouTube and the Spotify audio versus Spotify video split, and sharing how I’m going to fix it without ripping down what’s already live. 

But the tech problem is really a doorway into a bigger topic: perfectionism. I talk about how “getting everything just right” can turn into analysis paralysis, how doubt sneaks in while we over-research, and why I finally launched anyway even though I’m still learning. As a blind creator, that learning includes accessibility too, like describing what’s happening more clearly so blind listeners aren’t left out of the moments that are naturally visual. 

I also share a personal memory that anchors the message: honoring my dad on his birthday by wearing one of his old shirts, and remembering the way he taught me grace. We go into faith, Romans 7, and the reality that all of us wrestle with doing what we want to do and still falling short. The takeaway is simple and practical: don’t wait for perfect timing or perfect words. Do what you can with what you have, and let progress do what perfection never will. 

If this hits home, subscribe so you don’t miss what’s next, leave a review to help other listeners find the show, and share it with a friend who’s stuck overthinking.

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Transcript

Realizing The Upload Mistake

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Have you ever been doing something for a while? And then you find out after so long you've been doing it wrong the whole time? Yeah. Well, apparently, ever since I started this podcast, uh I haven't known what I was doing. That should have probably been obvious to most of you, and it's become very obvious to me. You know what though? That pretty much tells you all you need to know about me. I'm not perfect. You know what else? I don't have to be. And I'm going to stop trying to be so let me start off today with an apology to all my sighted friends and the visually impaired folks that still have some useful vision. So turns out all this time, I thought that I was uploading video content onto YouTube and to Spotify. So it wasn't. Um yeah, I wow that that pretty much I just recently found out that uh all the everything that's been going up into the different streaming platforms, most of the streaming places, most of the places you can find the podcast are going to be audio only. However, YouTube all along was supposed to have video content, the video and the audio. So the videos that we put up that were the point of view, POV videos, you know, of me doing certain things or going to throw trash. If you haven't checked out that one, it's a really cool uh it's a really cool episode. Throwing trash in the dark. There's a lot of things that I've put up so far that have been more visual uh for those that can see it. And um yeah, so come to find out that there's only audio been distributed, you know, out to those. So I again want to apologize to those of you that have some useful vision or you're totally sighted. I apologize for that. And I will be fixing that very soon, uh, as soon as possible, anyway. Now, once I get my life together and figure out what's going on and how to get everything fixed and situated, I will definitely be going in to get all that synced up and fixed on YouTube. And I'm gonna leave the ones that are up already because we've gotten some views on it, so I don't want to just pull it off. You know, other people might be seeing them and send them to sending them to friends. So we're gonna leave that up for a while. That's totally fine. What I'll probably do is go in and just pop in a new version of those episodes, maybe put a V for victory, uh Victor, Victor, you know, just a V, like you know, V. Um sorry, line guys. I put up my two fingers in the shape of a V. So uh yeah, I'll probably just put the same title on there and just put a V on there for video to let you guys know that um that's a that's a video version of that episode. So again, thank you so much for your patience as we're getting all this stuff figured out, worked out, and and situated. And guys, like I said in the beginning, I I'm not perfect. I never claimed to be perfect. Uh maybe I'll think about that a little bit more in a minute. But now I want to move into the second part of that. Spotify actually has some video episodes up already, but somehow now there's two versions of the podcast on Spotify. One is audio only, one is video. The bad part about the one that's video is although it does have the video footage, you can you can physically visually see that if you have that capability, um, they're not up to date. So they're not current with the latest last couple of episodes that I've uploaded. So I've got a lot of work to do, and that's totally fine. I I really enjoy doing it. But again, just to let you know that you know I apologize for that. Thank you again so much for being patient with me as we're figuring out this whole podcast journey. Man, in five, ten years, it's gonna be amazing. Maybe even in the next five months, it'll get better and better. But the goal here is not perfection, it's progress. And so, quick, quick little thing I want to say to you now, if you're listening, watching, don't shoot for perfection. Shoot for progress. Do the best you can do with what you have. I think that's like a Theater Roosevelt quote. You know, do the best you can do with what you have. And so, right now I have a bit of a deficit, right? I'm blind. You guys know that. If you don't know that, hey, by the way, hi, I'm Dave, and I'm blind. But those of you that did already know that, yeah, I'm working with a deficit, and that's okay. I'm learning how to do new things, and it's not gonna come out 100% exactly how I want it to every single time. And I think you know what that's like. I think you know what it's like to try something new and feel like you totally failed the first time, the first 10 times, the first thousand times. But no matter how many times you fail, it's only truly a failure if you don't get back up, if you don't try again, and if you don't learn from your mistakes, because that's how we get better and that's how we learn and grow, is through learning from our mistakes. So I've made a lot of mistakes over the last few months that we've been doing this podcast, and we will be working to get those mistakes fixed. So thank you again. Now to my blind folks, my blind peeps, my blind buddies. I want to apologize to you too. I really feel like maybe I haven't done a great job at describing things as I'm going along. Um the the cooking video that I shot, that one I really tried to be more conscious, front of mind focused about putting in, you know, though those details and those narration, right, of exactly what I was doing. Uh I gave a tour of my kitchen that day, which was an audible tour, and and I'm really working to get better at that. But I I've gone back and looked at some of the footage and listened to some of the podcast replays and things like that, and gotten some feedback from some uh great friends and people that are going to be honest with me and tell me the truth and not just sugarcoat it and tell me, oh, you're amazing. Uh you know, it's great to hear that. I love being, you know, being positive and hearing from positive people. But I I'm also able to take constructive criticism. I just say that slowly, because that's how we grow too, right? We hear the truth and find out the truth. So I've had some some good friends and family members reach out to me uh that I've asked for some feedback and they've reached out and given me some. And that's one of the things that that you know, for for my blind folks, that I could do a better job of describing things. Uh so yeah, I and I want to do that right now, actually. I'll start with this right here, right now. Uh so maybe I've never introduced myself or exactly told you what I look like and what to expect. Cyclic folks, if you've seen the video on Spotify, you know, if you've seen me on social media, if you guys follow me on socials, then then maybe you have seen my picture, seen my image, you know what I look like from my blind folks. I am a I'd say medium to light skin, tan Hispanic man. And I've got jet black hair. Uh, I'm a short guy, and my hair is also short. I've got a mustache and a goatee. They don't connect, though, and I'm actually kind of rubbing my mustache right now. Um they don't connect, and they just never would. I couldn't get my mustache and goatee to connect like I always wanted to, so they don't connect. Not for a lack of trying, just that's just my genes, I guess. I don't have a beard or anything like that, just a goatee. Because again, I couldn't get my the the sides to grow out and connect uh and do the whole beard thing. And so, yeah. So in a nutshell, that's basically what I look like. Uh again, you know, a little short Hispanic guy, you know, uh blue brown eyes, I think. I don't know. One of my eyes is discolored, um, even though I'm totally blind. One eye looks totally normal, the right eye, and the left eye, it's a little bit discolored, you know, for whatever reason. Um, but so there's that. So today I'm actually wearing one of my dad's old t-shirts, and it's an orange t-shirt, and on the front, the logo, it says, That thing got a Hemi. And it's a throwback to an old Dodge commercial from back in the day. And uh my dad loved that commercial. And you know what? As the record as of the recording of this video, it's May 5th. Cinco de Mayo. But it's not just Cinco de Mayo, it's also my dad's birthday. And so whether or not they celebrate Cinco de Mayo and my dad's birthday in heaven, I don't know. But today, I decided I would celebrate and and honor my dad's memory, honor his life, and and just remember him by wearing his t-shirt. So when he passed away, my mom was still alive at the time, and she gave me a few things that I had given my dad over the years, and he loved that commercial so much that I'm gonna pull my shirt out a little bit so the sight folks can see the logo a little bit better. But yeah, that this is one of his favorite shirts because he loved that commercial. He thought it was hilarious. And so, yeah, so today to kind of celebrate my dad uh and remember him, I'm wearing this orange uh Dodge, got a Hemi t-shirt. So that's a little bit of what I look like. That's the apologies, you know, and and and that's what I look like in a nutshell. But going back to the original opening of the of the episode, right? I'm not perfect and that's okay. I'm not perfect and I don't have to be. I'm not trying to be, even though I have before. But so I say all that because I actually did deal with I don't know what I would want to call it. Maybe basically it was the trap of perfectionism, right? I I I was a perfectionist. I never thought of myself as that. I just really didn't. But when I started to recognize that when I make certain decisions, I sit and try to get everything just right and everything situated. I've got to have all the all the all my Ps and Q's and all that stuff lined up, right? I feel like I had to have everything. I do all the research and and I do all these different things and I gather all the materials I'm gonna need, you know, and and and I wind up getting caught in this loop of they call it analysis paralysis. Let me know if you've been there, right? If you're watching on YouTube, if you're checking us out on YouTube, drop me a comment. Let you let me know if you've ever been there. You know, what's something, what's one thing that you you wanted to do and you tried to do, but you just got stuck, you know, right in the analysis phase. You got stuck waiting for the perfect time for the perfect thing. Even with Brenda, my wife, those of you that have met her, those of you that have seen her on the on the on the podcast, even with my wife, you know, I there have been times where I waited for the perfect time or the right time to do something for her, something special. And, you know, I want to get her flowers. Oh, but her birthday's coming, so I'll just wait. You know, oh well, this is gonna happen, so I'll just wait. And I'm really trying to get better at that, where if I have a good idea, let's just go for it. You know, honestly, all these mistakes that I'm making on this podcast really is a result of me trying to work through that perfectionist state. Honestly, I've been wanting to do a podcast for a couple of years at least. I don't know, maybe the first time I thought about it was 2023. Yeah, so that's like three years, you know, that I've been thinking about it, you know, and stuff like that. And I had a couple of names written down that I thought might work out that I kind of liked, and and and and titles, and and and then I started working on descriptions, and then I just kept I I wound up putting it on the back burner because I had all these thoughts and all these ideas. What is some content? What can I do? What can it be about? And I went through so many questions and trying to get everything situated just right and did all the research. And I'm telling you, I went deep dive. I I would what are the you know what names are gonna catch attention? And what do I need? What are the five things you need to start a podcast? I watched all the videos, I've got so many YouTube videos, TikTok videos, different things that I've gone through. I've probably got notes of resources and thoughts of what would make a a good podcast and how podcasts grow and what's the best time to upload your podcast. I'm serious. I'm just getting dizzy just thinking about it right now, you know. But but I've done that. I did that specifically with the podcast. But again, I've made all these mistakes because I finally pulled the trigger last year. You know, last year in late fall, I finally decided I'm just gonna go for it. I don't have everything ready, I don't know exactly what I'm doing. But I I I I figured out a name that I liked and I still did some research, but I did. I figured out a name that I liked. I asked a couple of people pretty close to me, what do you think? What do you think about this name? What do you think about this idea? And then my gosh, I still wound up taking longer than I really, really should have. Because then, okay, well, what what do I need? And what do I have to have to get started? And cameras and how to work a camera, and I'm blind and editing. Oh my gosh. This this this podcast almost didn't even happen because again, I I got paralyzed. I got stuck just in my own head with all these. Now I've got not just an idea, but now I've got all these other things that I've got to get right and got to get ready. And what if I then comes the doubt, right? When I'm doing the research, do I have enough? Do I know enough? Are people gonna care? Is anybody gonna watch it? Am I gonna spend all this money buying mics and microphones and cameras and stands and lights? And and and if you're watching, you probably can tell I don't have the best lighting in the game right now. And that's okay. I finally had to sit down with Brenda and say, I'm either gonna do it or I'm not. And she looked at me pretty much and very matter of fact, just said, Well, you've got the stuff, just do it. And so that's why we're here. That's why we're actually doing this thing now. That's we've got the podcast started through the mistakes, through the ups and the downs and all arounds, the good, the bad, the ugly, and the ridiculous. Yes, blind folks, I just went cross-eyed when I said ridiculous, because that's how it feels sometimes. With all that other stuff, I also got stuck in my head with all the thoughts of do I have enough to say? Do I have anything important to say? Does anybody care what I have to say? You know, is it is it gonna help anybody, or am I just doing this just to get attention, right? And those are some valid things to to think about and to wrestle with or whatever, but oh my gosh. I I sometimes being alone with your thoughts is the worst place you can be, because then we start to let negative self-talk creep in. And thankfully, I had the right people around me, right? I've got the right relationships, I've got the right people in life in my life that that'll help me recognize what God is doing in my life and who he's called me to be and who he's made me to be, and all the things he's brought me from, right? But I mentioned my dad. My dad has meant so much to me in my life. And and when it came times like that, I just wanted to get everything right. And and my dad kind of knew that about me and saw that in me. I can remember my dad telling me in in certain moments, you know, where I was trying to work on something and trying to get it exactly right. Then he told me, you know, nobody's perfect, son. Nobody's perfect. I'd feel bad because I made a mistake playing drums, right? You know, I I'd feel bad because I wasn't living up to who I wanted to be, even. I'm not trying to go deep on you or anything like that, but there have been times in my life where I didn't feel like I was I was perfect. I wasn't living up to my potential, like they say. You know, I was trying to love God and love Jesus and serve people and and really give it my all. And even in my life as a Christian, even my life as following Jesus, I've made mistakes. I've made lots of mistakes. And my dad was always very gracious and very quick to remind me. And and and I want to remind you, my dad was a pastor. But what he told me was, son, you're not perfect, and neither am I. There was only one perfect person ever born into this world, and his name is Jesus, and your name is David. You're not gonna be perfect, son. But as long as you can progress, as long as you can grow from where you are and be better the next time around, that's what matters. See, my dad taught me to be gracious with myself, right? To show myself grace. I'm I'm pretty quick to show grace to other people if they make a mistake. Yeah, if somebody tries to show me something and I'm like, um, no, I'm blind, I can't see. You've known me for five years. I would think you'd know that by now, you know, but I have to have grace because we all forget things, right? And if I'm quick to have grace with other people when they make a mistake, maybe I need to be that kind to myself, right? And have a little bit of grace for me when I make a mistake. So even with all this podcast stuff, I've made these mistakes and I've learned to just laugh about it and say, hey, I'm growing and I'm gonna have grace in the process over my process, right? So the next thing is patience in the process. You know, the process is not always easy, and the process is almost never fun. But being patient in the process really goes a long way with you being the best person that you can be, because you've learned to love yourself. And only when you love yourself can you really love other people. So when when when Jesus says, you know, love God, love people, love your neighbor as yourself, Jesus recognized right there in that statement that you also have to love you to love other people, right? To love God, love ourselves, and love other people. And so, so being gracious, even in the mistakes, you know, like I said, my dad would tell me, you know what, you're not gonna be perfect, son. And I don't expect you to be. And so so many times my dad just lifted me up in that way by by letting me know that, you know what, yep, you made a mistake, son, and you shouldn't have done that. But as long as you learn from that now, now don't get it twisted. You know, my dad was also uh, he was a Bible-believing man. And so literally, the Bible literally says that, you know, if we love our kids, we will discipline them. Why? Because we want them to learn. I was the same way with my kids. I didn't want my kid to keep my kid, my son or my daughter, to touch a hot stove. So when they would reach out to it, I would move their hand. By the third time they reached out to touch the hot stove, I'd have to swat their little hand. Right? I'm not trying to draw blood, I'm not trying to turn their hand red, but I want them to understand and recognize, hey, that's gonna hurt you. I'd rather give you this little sting. And if you don't agree with me, you know, smacking my little kids' hands so they don't get burned on the stove, um, hey, I your opinion is your opinion, right? And how you feel is how you feel. I'm not trying to change your mind in any way. What I'm saying is that for me, I recognize that that little bit of stinging pain for my child is gonna be a lot better for them than to actually have a scar from a burnt hand because they touched something hot, right? And so that was the same way with. My dad. That's how it was with me. I very much tried to parent the way my dad to parent me. When I made a mistake, he had grace over me, grace over my life to help me learn from those mistakes. But there was also consequences, right? In life, there are consequences for actions. If it's a positive consequence, we call that a reward. So consequence and reward, right? But dad was very quick to understand that we are people, we are human, and we are going to make mistakes. We're not going to be perfect. I mean, gosh, even at the men's Bible study at Mercy Church, uh, we've been looking at the book of Romans. And if you know church, if you know the Bible, you probably know the Apostle Paul. He was responsible for writing a pretty big portion of the New Testament. And that wasn't always his life, right? In the very beginning of his story, he actually was the villain of the story. He actually was persecuting and and and putting people in jail. He was persecuting the church, right? That was who he was. That's what he was doing. He was making a mistake. Jesus showed up and showed him that he was making the mistake. And Paul changed his life. He turned from what he was doing to do something completely different. And when he gave his life to Jesus, he recognized, okay, I was living one way and I was making all the wrong decisions. I'm going to turn my life around and make different decisions, make better decisions. He learned from where he was and grew past it. Right now, what I want to get to with Paul is that in Romans chapter 7, I think Paul really said it best as far as not being perfect. He understood not being perfect. One, because he went from a villain to, I don't want to say a hero, but man, he went through a lot for the cause of Christ. He went through a lot to help grow the church and the kingdom of God. But here's what Paul said in Romans chapter 7. Essentially, he said, the things I want to do, I don't do. And the things I don't want to do, I wind up doing. What does that even mean? Well, it means I'm not perfect. It means that there's an inner struggle that within me I want to do the things that are right. Within me, I know what to do, but I don't always get it done. So Paul knew about not being perfect, but he also knew the grace of God over our lives and the power of God to help us through those times and through those moments and give us the grace again and the patience to endure the process, to grow and get better, to grow and get stronger. Now, we took that gospel break, if you want to call it that, but really and truly, again, I think I think the most important thing I want to get across is just exactly that. I I know what it's like to want to be a perfectionist. I know what it's like to want to have everything lined up exactly, exactly perfect. You want to give the right answer at the right time, you want to have all the right tools, you want to have everything, all the resources before you get started. But I want to say this to you I'm not perfect and I don't have to be. And you're not perfect, and you don't have to be. As long as you're striving to progress, again, progress is better than perfection. Now, if we're talking about the perfection that we know and understand here in this life, in this world, nothing is perfect. If you go and buy a car, as soon as you drive it off a lot, you lose like$10,000 worth of value. Guess what? It's in pristine condition, but it's not perfect anymore. You've already got gravel in the in the in the tread of the tires as soon as you drive it off the lot. As soon as you drive it off the lot, oh my gosh, I don't know how many times Brand and I have gone to get a car wash and we're driving down the road, and a bird decides to take care of business right above our car, and we got to drive right back to the car wash, right? It doesn't matter. Nothing in this world on this earth is going to be perfect. So I want that, I want you to take that and let that take a little pressure off of you. Hopefully that takes a little pressure off to say that we don't expect you to be perfect. And if somebody's expecting you to be perfect, that's them. Don't let that be your problem. Recognize today that you're not perfect, but you're striving for progress, right? We're working towards progress. So if there's anything else, anything else in life that you're dealing with right now, don't let that be one of them, right? That you don't want to get started. Maybe you've got a project that you've been putting off. Maybe there's somebody that you want to, somebody that you want to bless, somebody that you want to, that you want to maybe strike up a conversation with. Maybe you've been going to a coffee shop, and every time you go, you see this one dude sitting over there, and and he looks like he looks like he could use somebody to talk to. Looks like he's going through something. Or maybe, maybe you're not a guy, maybe you're a young lady and you go to a coffee shop, and and every time you go, you notice that the the barista seems to be a little edgy, maybe having a tough time. And maybe you've wanted to say something. Maybe you've wanted to say something to cheer them up, or you've wanted to say something just to maybe brighten their day, or maybe, maybe you're wanting to share the gospel with somebody. Maybe you wanted to tell somebody about Jesus, but you feel like I don't have the right words. I don't know what this person, I don't know what the barista's going through. So I'm just gonna, I'm just not gonna say anything. You know, I don't know my cashier seems like she's in a bad mood, and um I just don't know what to say, so I'm not gonna say anything. You know, I don't have the right words for this situation. Maybe I've got a friend who who just who just lost a uh who just lost something special in their lives, like like when my parents passed away, right? You know, I maybe I don't know what to say. Don't say anything. Just smile. Right? What I'm saying though is don't wait for the perfect time. Don't wait for all the right words. Just do what you can with what you have. Just give them a smile. Just say, hey, I hope you have a nice day. You look a little down, I hope things get better for you. It can be that simple, it can be that easy. You don't have to know the best joke that that person's gonna like. You don't have to know the perfect poem to recite in that moment. And if you're again wanting to share your faith in Jesus Christ and you want to share the gospel with somebody, and you say, Well, I haven't read the whole Bible, that's okay. Well, I can't remember any of the scriptures that I've read. You know what? Guess what? The Holy Spirit can help remind you of those scriptures if you'll just be brave enough to jump out and do it, right? This podcast, we got it started. I we just jumped in. I didn't know what I was doing. Still am trying to figure out what I'm doing. So let that let that be let that be your hope today. That maybe I don't know everything about this topic, and maybe I don't know everything about the Bible, but I can share my experience with somebody. Maybe that's all they need. Maybe they don't need you to quote the Bible to them all day. Maybe they just need to see you living your life and loving people around you. Maybe they just need to see you smiling, having a beautiful day, and smiling at them and asking them if they're having a good day, and wishing them a beautiful day. So don't let perfection hold you back because you're never gonna be perfect. Shoot for progress over perfection every single time, and 10 out of 10, you're gonna nail it. So, with that, if you're watching on YouTube, please, please give me a thumbs up, give me a like, hit the subscribe button. That way you'll get notified whenever a new episode pops up and comes out. Uh, also, and or drop me a comment. You know, let me know if there's something that you've struggled with that you you've been wanting to do, but you've been waiting for everything to be perfect first. If you're watching on any other platform or listening to this podcast anywhere else, drop me a review. If if you've dug any of these episodes, if you if you like it, if you dig it, if you've gotten anything out of it, put a review, right? Write a review if you don't mind. That would be great. I'd really appreciate that. It lets me know that, you know, if I get uh like, subscribe, comment, review, those things are not just to boost my confidence, because honestly, I'm pretty confident just in who I am, and I love me enough to not need the validation that I needed when I was younger. But what it does is those things let me know that, hey, somebody's digging in, right? It lets me know that, okay, this is helping somebody. So if this has meant anything to you or if it's helped you at all, let me know that, right? Let me know that in one way or another. And uh also feel free to share it with somebody. I had a friend reach out to me the other day and and said, um, you know, I shared my podcast with a friend of mine the other day. And so I really feel like you've got some good content. So uh yeah, so I thought I'd share it with a friend. So that was really nice, you know, to get that message. And so last thing is uh if you follow me on socials at all, you can always reach out to me through there. You know, that you can shoot me a DM through any of those platforms, and all that stuff is in the uh it's in the little podcast details down there. So again, thanks so much for watching. I appreciate you. Thank you again for joining and being a part of the community. Have a beautiful day.