Does this sound like you?

• The ideas you want to communicate with your audience stay ideas and don’t come to fruition
• A copywriting session leaves you unsatisfied and with little messaging that feels good
• You hold your tongue (in this case, your literal or metaphorical pen) and stop yourself from stepping into your next level because you’re afraid of what others will think and how you’ll be perceived
• Writing your sales copy gets pushed further and further down your to-do list

If any of the above resonate with you, I need to tell you something important—

—stop censoring yourself!

What is self-censorship?

Censorship is defined as “the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information.” (Wikipedia)

And while it’s a hot topic in today’s political landscape, we’re going to look at it through a different lens—the lens of how you perceive your own value and worth.

If censorship is the suppression of information, self-censorship is when someone makes the choice (conscious or unconscious) to suppress information they want to share. 

When you consciously make this choice, for whatever reason, you are choosing not to share information. And as long as you are confident and firm in that decision and the logic behind it, you can move on and do business as usual.

But when you unconsciously make this choice, it suggests you may feel unsure of yourself and your message—which is a problem you can and must address if you want to stand out in your industry and grow the business you’ve been dreaming of.

Because when you decide that your ideas aren’t worth taking the time to develop to their fullest potential or that developing and redefining your message as you grow isn’t an important business task, you are silencing your own unique voice.

And in a sea of crowded social media platforms and markets, your own unique voice is the most powerful tool at your disposal.

How to recognize you are self-censoring

The first step to recognize if you are censoring yourself is to understand the concept. If you are self-censoring, you may also be:

• Letting the fear of saying the wrong thing stop you from saying anything at all
• Hitting the backspace button on every word you type because it doesn’t sound “right”
• Demanding your message be perfect from the moment you sit down to write
• Feeling the need to constantly explain yourself and the reasons behind your thinking

Your job isn’t to be perfect. If it was, we’d all be failing at everything in business.

Your real job? To keep moving forward, even if it’s one small step at a time. That’s how real results are made.

What to do if you are censoring yourself

Stay with me here.

The way to overcoming your self-censorship habit is to write.

Let the words already in you flow on the page. Your only job is to let nothing stop them.

Because I promise you that when everything is out of your head and on the page where you can see it in a new way, you’ll start connecting this point to that point in ways you’ve never considered before…

…and the words will start to come to life in a way that feels good.

Here’s one way you can get in the mindset to sit down and write without the urge to delete it all:

Set a timer and an expectation and do a brain dump. Give yourself 15 minutes to just dump everything out of your brain, knowing it won’t sound exactly the way you want.

When you prepare your mind to not demand that level of perfection you’ve been holding it to, you’ll feel more comfortable, relaxed, and less focused on writing a masterpiece.

And when those 15 minutes are up, get away from the screen. Go on a walk. Eat a snack. Come back to your words with a fresh perspective and start to pick out what you like and what you know needs more fleshing out.

Censoring yourself not only hurts YOU, but also those who need to hear your message.

So, today, sit down and write. Let it all out and see the magic within the words on your heart come alive.

And then use that magic to build the connection and trust you need to sell.

If you’re desiring to have someone support you with this process and create messaging to serve you and your ideal clients, I invite you to come on over and learn more about my copywriting services. I’d love to support you as you enter the next level of your business!

Thanks for stopping by the blog!

If this is the first time we’re meeting—hello! My name is Val Casola and I’m a website copywriter and brand storyteller for creative and lifestyle brands who want to articulate their value and grow their business.

Come say hi over on Instagram or send me an email at valcasolawrites@gmail.com! Thanks for reading!

Photo by Sora Sagano on Unsplash