I stole the title of this 100th edition of my newsletter, Ideas to Play With, from Ryan Holiday’s latest book by the same name.
Why this topic? Well, you can’t achieve anything substantial in life without discipline and hard work. There is no such thing as an overnight success. Consistency of effort matters.
I’m proud to have completed 100 editions of my newsletter. And I’m very grateful to you for reading my writing week after week.
Many people ask me how I find the time to fit this into my busy schedule. Some wonder what the purpose of this newsletter is and what is in it for me. Others marvel at the self-control required to clear out other distractions and produce this content with commendable regularity.
I’ll let you into my secret. I started this newsletter as a precursor to writing a book. A few years ago, my desire to publish a book got stronger. I sought the advice of Indrajit Gupta, business journalist and Co-Founder of Founding Fuel, who is a friend and fellow alum of SPJIMR. He had suggested that I build a digital community. I needed to find a way to write regularly and cultivate an audience. If I did this long enough, I would not only establish credibility as a writer but also have an initial readership for my book. That’s how my website and my newsletter were born.
What IG recommended got me off to a great start. I had a lot of enthusiasm for my first twenty or so newsletters and then the going got tough. Very tough. I realised I had signed up for way more than I could deliver. I hit the panic button. How was I going to produce high quality content week after week for a growing readership? Many discerning family members, friends, clients and others had signed up. I had promised to deliver my newsletter every Sunday at 6pm IST. It was still early days, I told myself. Why not quit now and tell everyone I had changed my mind?
I realised that perhaps I wasn’t actually willing to put in the hard work to achieve the outcome I eventually wanted which is to become a published authour. That thought didn’t sit well with me. It made me quite uncomfortable. It made me feel like a loser. If I couldn’t even produce a weekly newsletter, how on earth was I going to write a book?
I’ll get to the 25th edition and then I’ll stop is what I told myself. That seemed like a respectable number. So I rallied to publish for a few more weeks. But when I got to 25, I didn’t have it in me to stop. Something kept nudging me to go for one more week. And one more. I trained myself to take it just take it one week at a time. The anticipation of those who I know love my newsletter kept me going. I didn’t want to let them down. And slowly I crossed Edition 50 and then Edition 75 and just like that here we are at Edition 100.
Some weeks I really enjoyed writing the newsletter. Others I had to really motivate myself because there was always a book or Netflix to provide a handy outlet at the slightest thought of skipping the week. I did have to miss publishing on a few instances the first one being when I took my first Covid vaccine which totally knocked me out. Travel also made me skip a few but I got better at managing weeks in which I was travelling by planning ahead.
How did I do it? I just focused on getting through to the next week. I didn’t need to worry about weeks and weeks of content but just the next one. During the week, ideas are marinating in my brain from blog posts, newsletters, podcasts, talking to people, magazines - just about anywhere actually! I develop the idea in my head throughout the week. On Saturday evening or Sunday morning, I sit in front of my laptop and don’t get up until the first draft is done. It usually takes me between and hour and three hours depending on the topic. Sometimes I also get distracted following the links and going down the rabbit hole that the Internet can be. I revisit the draft after an hour or so and then edit a few times before I send out to my friend Jyo at Walter & The Studio who designs each week’s newsletter for me. I’m so grateful to Jyo for her consistency with the design and her patience with my erratic timings of delivering the content to her. She has been an amazing partner through these hundred editions.
I almost toyed with stopping at 100 and fully focusing on my book which has picked up traction now but I’ve decided to keep my newsletter going as well. Your weekly comments and feedback are very encouraging. It gives me the necessary motivation I need to complete my book project.
Who’s my book for and what is it about?
I’m primarily writing for young women (20-30 years old) who enter the workforce with great enthusiasm and a burning desire to succeed but may lack the knowledge, tools, mindset and guidance to do what it takes to have a thriving career. Think of it as a girlfriend’s guide to brilliance at work and life. While I’m writing primarily for this audience, I’m hoping the content will be relevant for others as well.
I’ve written about 10,000 words and counting. I’ve sent a sample to a publisher my Uncle recommended. He has published more than 18 books and has deep knowledge of the lay of the land so I’ve taken his advice to approach one publisher at a time. Meanwhile, my writing coach has asked me to keep writing to make as much progress as possible which is what I’m focusing on in the holidays. Here again, daily discipline is what is going to determine my destiny!
Wish me luck and please let me know if you have any feedback or suggestions for my book. If there are particular topics you’d love for me to explore for the newsletter in the coming year, please do share.
As you embrace the new year which is almost here now, do think about how discipline might help you move closer towards your aspirations.
If you do only one thing after reading this newsletter, watch/listen to this excellent High Performance Podcast interview with Mat Fraser, five time CrossFit Champion in which he says that “discipline is everything.”
Wishing you and your loved ones a Merry Christmas!
Over to you now:
What were the actions that led to success/achieving your goals in the past? Can you tap into some of those behaviours again to reach new goals in 2023?
Is there a burning desire for the ONE thing you want to achieve next year? What might that be?
What is the ONE action you need to do every day to work towards that burning desire?