Hey there, I’m Lesley. Welcome to the latest issue of Failing Forward — A weekly newsletter where I share my experiences as a bootstrapper.
There’s no bravado here. This newsletter serves as a reminder that failure is not just okay, it’s often the best way forward.
F$#$%@g construction
My neighbour’s house has been under construction for the past year.
Instead of letting it bother me, I just ignored it – I played music and worked through it. In fact, I was quite self-congratulatory about my maturity toward it.
During this period of time, I struggled with a lack of focus and motivation. At first I attributed this to a lack of sleep and exercise. So I dutifully fixed those issues. Unfortunately, the lackadaisical feelings remained.
Looking back, I must’ve been like a character in a TV show, where the audience can see the problem, but the character is oblivious: Picture me sitting at my desk trying to figure out why I had so much trouble focusing. As I ponder this, there’s incessant pounding, shouting and high-pitched drilling going on in the background.
Thankfully, I finally realised this was the problem (cue audience groaning, “took you long enough!”)
This was an interesting observation for me. It was the first time realising that being completely at peace with a problem didn’t stop it from affecting me subconsciously and physically. I felt drained and exhausted all the time, even though the construction noises didn’t grate at my ears or actively bother me in the slightest.
Based on how easy it was for me to overlook something so obvious, it makes me wonder – what other bad things in my life that I think are fine actually aren’t?
Counterintuitively, I’m okay with this. It doesn’t make me feel useless or stupid. Instead, I think it’s healthy to admit and recognise my ignorance. It makes me more open-minded to other potential issues in my life and less quick to judge others for their lack of introspection. And it’ll be fun to see what else I can uncover in the future.
Has something similar happened to you? Would love to hear about it!
I’m building Newsletter Glue — an email newsletter platform on WordPress with a Gutenberg-first approach.
Here’s what I got up to this week…
🔥 Highlights from this week
- I shared our new UI on Twitter and have had some really positive comments on it so far!
💔 Lowlights from this week
- I suppose the construction noise is a lowlight!
✅ Completed this week
- Updated UI
- Published a customer story with Gutenberg Hub (looking forward to making updates to this and adding it to our front page!)
🎯 Goals for next week
- Write new blog post
- Launch our new UI
Worth a thousand words
Worth your while: Here are my favourite links from this week
PROSPECT Have you seen somebody with he/him, she/her or they/them on their email signature or their social media bio? I recently added this to my own social media account. The reason is simple, I want to support trans and non-binary people by normalising the mentioning of pronouns. Learn more about why this matters in this article. |
BARKING UP THE WRONG TREE Unexpected kindness, not restraints, changes minds. Back in the 1970s, Portland State University psychology professor Dr. Frank Wesley, looked into why some US prisoners of war defected to North Korea during the Korean War. And it wasn’t because they were tortured. It was because they were shown kindness. |
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