I’m just discovering your publication and I find it really refreshing to find this type of advice on a topic that normally recommends to be as concrete as possible. I appreciate the ease and joy of refocusing on the value (or outcome) and not so much on the number (the metric).
On a professional context, I’ve been using a mental model with my teams with great results: Goals and Objectives. Goals follows your advice, whereas Objectives, almost by definition must be concrete. I use them according to each case, and i’m happy to say that goals work good for Product and Business development too.
P.S.: Not entirely related but reminded me of “calm technology”. May be of your interest too.
"Over the next 3 years, I am going to work with my employers to change the balance. It would be good to keep the stability of regular paid work, but I am going to increase the amount of time I commit to my creative practice."
Thanks for this. When I began writing my newsletter, I was so hellbent on finding a quick way out of the 9-5 life, that the pressure involved actually took a lot of enjoyment out of enjoying the process itself... and when you find yourself in that position, what's the point?
I love this "big handful" approach. It's a gentle reminder that the journey can (and should) be so much more gratifying than the endgame itself.
I’m going to grow my subscriptions by 1000 by the end of December 2024
perhaps we could try this for size
I am going to build a loyal audience of readers, who celebrate what I do, and tell other people about it.
Sounds advice I'll try to apply it, I really hoped to continue to grow after quite a bit of initial growth, but have since slammed straight into a wall and begun to bleed subs. But I'll try to bear this in mind, this was an essay I very much needed to read.
It's all about attitude and positivity thanks F&F!
Thank you so much, especially for this reframe: “I am going to build a loyal audience of readers, who celebrate what I do, and tell other people about it.”♥️🙏🕊
I appreciate this process of reframing, particularly the move away from "I'll grow my audience by x number" to "this is the kind of audience I want" ... All business/marketing/etc classes I've ever taken rely on the SMART goal model and say that you need to make specific goals that are based on measurable numbers and timelines but there are other ways to value work.
I have found this zoning out helpful too because when I shift from I’d like to have x number of subscribers to I’m excited to have conversations with my readers about the topics we care about, I start enjoying the process today. This was great, Barrie!
I’m just discovering your publication and I find it really refreshing to find this type of advice on a topic that normally recommends to be as concrete as possible. I appreciate the ease and joy of refocusing on the value (or outcome) and not so much on the number (the metric).
On a professional context, I’ve been using a mental model with my teams with great results: Goals and Objectives. Goals follows your advice, whereas Objectives, almost by definition must be concrete. I use them according to each case, and i’m happy to say that goals work good for Product and Business development too.
P.S.: Not entirely related but reminded me of “calm technology”. May be of your interest too.
"Over the next 3 years, I am going to work with my employers to change the balance. It would be good to keep the stability of regular paid work, but I am going to increase the amount of time I commit to my creative practice."
Thanks for this. When I began writing my newsletter, I was so hellbent on finding a quick way out of the 9-5 life, that the pressure involved actually took a lot of enjoyment out of enjoying the process itself... and when you find yourself in that position, what's the point?
I love this "big handful" approach. It's a gentle reminder that the journey can (and should) be so much more gratifying than the endgame itself.
I’m going to grow my subscriptions by 1000 by the end of December 2024
perhaps we could try this for size
I am going to build a loyal audience of readers, who celebrate what I do, and tell other people about it.
Sounds advice I'll try to apply it, I really hoped to continue to grow after quite a bit of initial growth, but have since slammed straight into a wall and begun to bleed subs. But I'll try to bear this in mind, this was an essay I very much needed to read.
It's all about attitude and positivity thanks F&F!
Ah I absolutely love this. Everyone needs this particular encouragement.
Thank you. 🙏🏻❤️
This is so lush. ✨🫙✨
Finding time to write can be tricky, but I do want a regularly engaged audience. And yes, this is more important than the numbers.
Given I am job hunting, the work life/writing balance is something I want to focus on and am most afraid of failing at.
Thank you so much, especially for this reframe: “I am going to build a loyal audience of readers, who celebrate what I do, and tell other people about it.”♥️🙏🕊
I appreciate this process of reframing, particularly the move away from "I'll grow my audience by x number" to "this is the kind of audience I want" ... All business/marketing/etc classes I've ever taken rely on the SMART goal model and say that you need to make specific goals that are based on measurable numbers and timelines but there are other ways to value work.
I have found this zoning out helpful too because when I shift from I’d like to have x number of subscribers to I’m excited to have conversations with my readers about the topics we care about, I start enjoying the process today. This was great, Barrie!