Struggling with self-editing? Here’s how I conquered it—and what you can learn from it.
But wait a minute, what happens when you mix self-editing with a touch of nostalgia? Here’s my experience.
Today was a day of accomplishments and reflections on the challenges of self-editing.
As I mentioned yesterday, I hit the 90% mark on completing the Chapter 1 rewrites. Today, I focused on finishing the remaining 10% and doing some restructuring. I must be sincere with you—editing oneself is not easy. You tend not to see a lot of things, and it’s hard to remove what you’ve written because it took so much time to create. But it’s necessary at some point.
What I did was duplicate the document, clear out the exact chapter I was going to work on, and use the previous version as a reference. This approach helped me rewrite it in a way that first-time readers, who know nothing about my work, could easily understand. I referred to the parts I needed to copy, adjust, rewrite, or comment on. With that, I was able to make significant progress in editing.
It’s not been easy. Editing your own work takes a lot of courage because you’re essentially modifying or removing parts of yourself. By 3 p.m., I was mostly done. In between, I called my wife to come into the study and help review it. She made some suggestions which I improved upon, and we managed to capture the essence of the chapter.
The trickiest part of Chapter 1 was writing the overview. It’s an introductory chapter, and summarizing the thesis can be quite challenging. However, we managed to complete it.
After that, I went for a school run at 3 p.m., and on my way back, I stopped by campus to print out Chapter 1. There’s something special about reading a physical copy. It gives you a different connection, and you tend to see more. The distractions present on a screen—pop-ups, colors, and scrolling—are absent on paper, allowing for a more focused review.
Working on paper reminds me of my late mentor, Professor Lai Oso, who preferred labeling paragraphs and connecting them across pages. Sometimes he would cut pieces of paper, add sticky notes, and stick them in, indicating where to insert text. Yesterday, I managed a logical reordering of Chapter 1, which was fulfilling. I’m still holding on to the paper to see if I notice anything else.
Today, I also had several meetings—social, network, and impact meetings in the evening. These meetings involved my team in church and my new UK-wide John Maxwell’s Beyond Success Team, where we focus on investing our time to help people become aware of their personal growth and development. Overall, it was great.
I also spent a significant amount of time on social media today, focusing on professional content creation and ticking off my to-do list. Even with all this, I met my day’s goal. I understand that same doesn’t work for everyone; we’re all different.
Key lessons from today:
1. Self-editing is challenging but essential for growth.
2. Physical copies provide a different, often clearer, perspective.
3. Collaboration and feedback from others can significantly improve your work.
4. Balancing various activities and responsibilities is crucial for productivity.
I hope you learned something from today’s diary. Cheers.
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