Hope you are well.
Me? Oh, my morning has been good and bad.
💚 The Bad: A sweet-hearted repair man tracked black mud on my white carpet and I am trying not to lose my s$&t. 👀 👀
💚 The Good: This morning, I got to know a cool, new person and we had a lot to talk about, like right after I said
“I repurpose everything I write. So my newsletters can be long, and…I’m just good with that.”
And not only that but I also write lengthy blog posts as well!
💚 Let’s dig into the liberation of this sentiment, shall we?
I need to write this as a distraction from staring at my carpet 👀 👀 👀
Joking, not joking.
💚 Anyway, my new friend mentioned
the pressure to write SHORT EMAILS or short posts
And how it was blocking her from writing what she really wanted to.
It makes a lot of sense —
– Every body has a short-attention span,
– We are all busy,
– Time is money, yada yada yada…
💚 But sometimes you just want some space to breathe.
It’s nice to take up some more space and get your full thought out, am I right?
So let’s talk about this.
LOL
First, I have to laugh 😂
ME…hahaha short emails HA.
💚 If you’ve been on my newsletter, then you might notice I often write LOOOOONG emails.
And I’m not stopping any time soon.
Don’t get me wrong.
There’s nothing wrong with a good, short email,
💚 a tasty little bite. YUM.
I do go back and reread things to make what I write a little tighter.
But let’s be honest —
💚 I am wordy AF.
Why?
That’s just how my brain works!
💚 I just have a lot to say, okay?
I have thought about this, because I know shorter is often better
💚 But I have made the conscious decision to embrace my brain and how it works —
So I can move the needle on my goals
If I want to write weekly, which is my general goal,
💚 it makes more sense to work with myself,
rather than against myself.
Writing is my main form of sharing + marketing myself.
I reuse what I write.
💚 I usually email Wednesday/Thursday plus whenever I’m super inspired.
Then I take this email and I turn it into a post for my blog. I might put it on Medium, and I do all kinds of other things with it.
Since it is essential to me that I write consistently,
it should be easy, fun, and/or something that feels like autopilot.
Otherwise, it either
– won’t be done,
– won’t be done often enough, or
– I’ll have no energy for anything else.
💚 SO IT’S GOTTA FEEL AS EASY AS POSSIBLE.
My philosophy
I try to write and share a specific energy.
It could be hope, or amusement, or determination.
I’m aiming to add something to the pile of emails or things to read that you already have,
that will give you a smile or a good feeling.
If I’m feeling inspired to write a lot, I will.
💚 Being inspired, means my email will at least be entertaining.
That is my belief.
Even if you choose to skim or delete it
because you don’t feel like reading a whole lot of stuff,
(Respect)
💚 at least my email will be spreading some positive energy!
Whatever I write, I want it to be like a fun little Starburst in your mouth.
I bring good vibes,
and at the very least,
💚 I’m showing up as a human courageously being a human!
I am modeling it for you.
That is gold.
And you can take that to the bank.
(You’re welcome.)
💚 Having every reader read every word
as much as I would love that,
and I certainly aim to make every word worthy of that —
💚 It’s. not. going. to. happen.
No matter what I do,
I don’t control all the factors.
So I embrace this.
But I put the priority on:
💚 feeling good,
💚 getting into the flow,
💚 sharing my most valuable ideas, and
💚 showing up with the courage to be myself,
And that’s what I hope you do, too.
My point is —
If trying to write something short means:
💚 It doesn’t feel like YOU,
💚 You don’t write as often enough as you want to, or
💚 You feel like you are putting yourself in a box and can’t be yourself…
Forget short emails or the pressure to write them.
I know, I know, that everyone’s attention spans ARE short,
but it hasn’t stopped me from getting people to read Freedom Year, a 450 page book.
It hasn’t stopped me from getting people to read a long-A blog or email, before.
I’ve got tricks up my sleeve, yo.
There are other ways to write
💚 There are tricks writers use to get people to read a whole book,
or movie makers to get people to watch a whole, long movie.
And people do it all the time.
If writing something long is the way YOUR mind works,
💚 I truly believe you can write long stuff that people want to read.
Or at least skim…
BTW I try to make my writing easier to skim by playing with:
-formatting
-emojis 💚
-headlines
-lists and
-SPACE
so you can skim me up and down.
*insert eyebrow wiggle here*
💚 Instead of focusing on being SHORT,
there might be some other tricks you can try.
Maybe there is an alternative to saying something complex in 5 words or less.
But first, before you change anything, ask yourself:
Are YOU Having Fun?
Because
💚 if you are not having a lot of fun creating your writing,
then I truly believe
💚 people are not having a lot of fun reading your writing.
Personally, that is not a trade-off off I am willing to make,
– no matter how readable it might make me,
– or perfect it might make me,
– or smart it might make me sound.
I’m OVER it.
Come join me and be over-it together!
Carpet update 👀 👀 👀
I know you are very interested in the state of my carpets.
I know it’s going to keep you up late at night worrying if they are okay.
If I don’t let you know what’s going on,
I’m probably going to come back to 10 emails because
THE PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW.
So the update is:
now that I wrote this email, reapplied carpet cleaner and scrubbed it in, went to lunch, and vacuumed it all up
it is about 80% better.
It’s not perfect, but that’s life!
I’ll keep working on it but I’m going to move on emotionally.
💚 I’m going to stop focusing on what I can’t control and get on with what I can.
And that ties in with the topic of this post today, because I think
💚 we all try to control things we really can’t control,
which is why we try to learn the right rules for writing and follow them,
and we end up being hard on ourselves,
or we try to change into some perfect person that we frankly are NOT.
A More Moderate New Year
It’s the beginning of January 2023,
And now that I’m tuckered out from this email and this carpet, I’m waving a little white flag.
Can we just try to meet reality in the middle?
Try and get a little better,
like trying to write more,
or improve in a little way,
💚 without needing to be ten miles ahead of where we are now and to morph into some other person?
Can who we are and where we are now be okay?
Even if we want it to be a little different?
💚 Can’t we aim to be moderate, and a little more accepting of reality?
Can’t we just whack the mud off the bottom of our boots a little (ahem),
or recut our gems a touch so you can see the shine of the good that is already there?
Sometimes I just need to whack myself around the head a little and remind myself:
IT’S NOT GOING TO BE PERFECT,
THAT IS NOT A THING.
Anyway, here’s to a good new year!!
Thanks for the distraction of letting me write to you and, you know, how much you care
(because the state of my carpet is very important news I know, basically the most important thing ever)
Can you tell I amuse myself being this sarcastic and poking fun at my own inner control freak?
Can you relate to your carpets being the biggest deal ever?
GAH
💚 Letting go is hard.
But we MUST.
Up and Onward!!
We can do this.
Would you like to write for your book, website, or business this year?
- Write your book,
- Update your website,
- Start a consistent blog or email newsletter,
So you attract more fans, followers and clients?
And you can help people in a bigger way?
Get help to make it happen.
Private writing coaching is on sale for New Years.
Click here for to write in a way that feels good, so people like it and it sounds like ‘you.’
