Hey everybody,
Here’s another batch of actionable insights to start your week off right, so you can be more intentional with how you live, work, and create.
Let’s get started.
Insight 1: Behind the scenes of a 6-figure newsletter
Since leaving her job as a journalist for Fortune Magazine in March 2020 to go full-time writing her own newsletter, The Profile, Polina Marinova Pompliano has quickly become a household name.
The Profile studies the most successful and interesting people and companies in business, entertainment, tech, sports, and more.
She recently did an AMA, including making mistakes, generating ideas, growing a newsletter, building daily habits, and more.
Three notable pieces of advice I loved:
1. “The act of simply considering that a fraction of the criticism may be accurate will keep you learning, unlearning, fixing, and ultimately, gaining respect.”
2. “Remember that the most creative things in the world are typically horrible at first. It’s better to start with a good idea that’s poorly executed, iterate, and get feedback along the way than wait for the perfect idea to spring into your brain.”
3. How to grow your newsletter by finding creative ways to showcase your expertise.
It’s a treasure trove of resources.
Check it out here:
Q&A with Polina: How I Built The Profile
Insight 2: “Enough” changes as our identity shifts
In grade school, my goal was to go to college. When I got in, my goal became to get into a doctoral program, then to become a psychologist, then get a high-paying therapy job…
Slowly, my goals shifted from becoming a salaried therapist working in integrated primary care (my old job) to being an executive coach and entrepreneur who creates content and courses with multiple streams of income.
We all do this. As we progressively reach more of our potential, our definition of “enough” changes with us.
Not because we get progressively greedier, necessarily. But because we slowly learn how much more we’re capable of than the “old us” could’ve imagined.
I grew up poor (like, food stamps and public housing assistance poor). So a college education that lead to a job that paid $90k seemed like a dream come true. Until I achieved it. Then I realized how much more potential I have that I’d never be able to tap into if I stayed in that position. How much more of an impact was I was capable of having on the world if I dove into entrepreneurship?
That’s where I’m at now. Building toward my new definition of “enough” that blows my old definition out of the water.
Because I’m a different person now, with new skills and understanding that 15 year-old Corey couldn’t fathom.
Lawrence Yeo, of More to That, has a great article about our pursuit of “enough” and how it changes as we tap into more of our potential, how to know when you’re driven by ambition vs. greed, and how to cultivate self-awareness of what “enough” means to you.
Check out the full article here:
Insight 3: Don’t use the “C-word”
Can’t. Not the other one.
“Can’t” spreads like a cancer in your mind. So many limiting beliefs and toxic internal monologues start with it.
“I can’t do X. I can’t learn Y. Z can’t be done for this reason.”
Here’s a great poem about removing “can’t” from your vocabulary.
Question for the Week
Would you rather start imperfectly now, then iterate? Or wait indefinitely for everything to be “perfect?”
Insights in Action
One of the best ways to clarify your thinking is to write it out.
So if you want to develop your thinking on this question or start applying insights from today’s newsletter, send a tweet to @CoreyWilksPsyD with your thoughts and put #BuildingBlocks at the end so I can find it.
Not ready to “think in public” yet? No problem. You can also reply to this email if you want to share your thoughts with me.
Until next time—memento mori,
Corey Wilks, Psy.D.
Licensed Clinical Psychologist
Executive Coach
Building https://coreywilkspsyd.com/
