Why I’ve Been Failing Recently
Newsletter
Hey friends,
Not gonna lie – itβs been a huge struggle maintaining consistency with this weekly newsletter. Thereβs 3 main reasons for this. Letβs talk about them in turn.
- Iβve made it optional
- Iβve scrapped my daily writing practice
- Iβve scrapped my daily consumption practice
1 – Iβve made it optional
I stated this newsletter in April 2018, intending to publish one issue each week forevermore. I actually managed to do it for over 2 years without missing a single issue. There would be days when Iβd get home at midnight after an evening shift at work, and have to wake up at 6am the following day for another one. But if it was a Sunday, Iβd remember that I hadnβt sent the newsletter and Iβd get out of bed, write something, and hit the send button before sleeping.
This probably wasnβt the healthiest way of approaching things, but it ensured I published the newsletter.
But then I missed one. And then another. And soon, my Sunday night not-optional habit of writing the newsletter became a βif I remember to do it Iβll do itβ activity.
When I was forcing myself to write and publish something every week, I felt my ideas were more interesting, and I had more to talk about on my YouTube channel.
It isnβt necessarily a Bad Thing that I treat this newsletter as being optional. As Paul Millerd and Khe Hy have pointed out to me, I donβt actuallyΒ needΒ to be a slave to consistency. Who cares if I miss an issue every now and then?
But missing an issue isnβt really about the audience. Itβs about me. Writing this newsletter is something Iβve actively chosen to do, because itβs fun, and writing is good for the soul.
Itβs like missing workouts. Itβs easy to say βwell this one particular workout today wonβt really make any difference at all, therefore what does it matter if I miss it?β But itβs not about the individual workout. Itβs about the message that it signals to ourselves that itβs okay to miss a workout, and therefore, itβs okay to undervalue our physical health.
2 – Iβve scrapped my daily writing practise
A few months ago, I had a great daily writing practise. Iβd wake up, don my robe, make a cup of coffee, and then sit on the sofa for an hour where Iβd plan my day and then write. This was glorious.
But since starting working from a local co-working space in Cambridge, and since scheduling gym, tennis and guitar sessions basically every morning, I havenβt had that hour in the morning to sit down and write. Instead, I wake up, rush to whatever activity I need to rush to, and go straight to WeWork from there to hang out with my friends and the team.
And then when Iβm at the βofficeβ, I get sucked into dozens of phone calls, various admin tasks, and other project-related stuff that isnβt directly βsit down and write for an hourβ.
3 – I donβt consume as much content as I used to
The phrase βconsume contentβ always sounds a bit weird, but you know what I mean. When I was commuting for 2 hours each day to the hospital, Iβd be listening to audiobooks and podcasts all the time, and so I always had thoughts about stuff Iβd just heard that I could write about.
Since leaving full-time Medicine in August 2020 though, Iβve found my consumption falling through the floor. This isnβt a bad thing – Iβve been working on the business in a lot of my spare time, and itβs been great. But the ideas are flowing a lot less than they used to.
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All this has made it harder for me to keep up with writing this weekly newsletter and having something to say each week.
But the weird thing is – this is the first time Iβve actually thought about this. Iβve had a grumble in the back of my mind for the past few months thinking βwhy am I failing at writing the newsletter each weekβ. But until today, I hadnβt stopped to think about why I was having this problem.
Now that Iβve identified the 3 main reasons (optionality, lack of a daily writing habit and lack of a daily consumption habit), I can theoretically find ways to build those things back into my life, if I decide that I want to.
The writing habit is a no-brainer – writing is the bedrock of my book, this newsletter, YouTube videos and everything else that I do, so I really should have time blocked for it each and every day.
The consumption thing is less of a no-brainer, but if I wanted to, I could listen to podcasts and audiobooks in the car while driving to my gym and tennis sessions, rather than Olivia Rodrigoβs new album on repeat.
And the optionality thing – whenever I struggle with consistency, I like to find someone else to hold me accountable. Thankfully, my assistant Elizabeth has taken to constantly messaging me on Slack to remind me to write stuff, so thatβs quite nice.
So if thereβs a message from this very long email, I guess itβs this – if youβre struggling to do something, take 5 minutes to sit down and figure out why youβre struggling to do it. How can you get over the hurdles stopping you from doing it?
Have a great week!
Ali
β€οΈ My Favourite Things
π§ Audiobook –Β As per Taimur’s recommendation, I’ve been listening toΒ Unconditional ParentingΒ by Alfie Kohn. I’ve been having my ears and mind completely blown away and am rethinking my whole childhood. 10/10 would recommend this read.
π΅ Song –Β I’ve been listening toΒ this Ed Sheeran songΒ on repeat. Absolute banger.
π₯ Tech –Β I ordered the new Apple Pro Display XDR, a complete overkill piece of tech that is absolutely impossible to recommend to anyone. It’s cool, but if you’re in the market for a screen that does the job just as well for ten or twenty times less of a price,Β here’s a great one.
π Book –Β I’m currently reading theΒ ShortformΒ summary ofΒ Designing your Life, a book I read a few months ago. I’d really recommend checking the book or it’s summary out – to get some inspiration for summer life design π
βοΈ Quote of the Week
“Anytime a person is speaking to a group of people, in any context, the speaker has a duty and an obligation to be entertaining.”
FromΒ StoryworthyΒ – Matthew Dicks and Dan Kennedy. Resurfaced usingΒ Readwise.
π¬ This Week’s Videos