Thank you for this timely article, which validates what I've been going through. November-December are the hardest months for me personally, but this year it's been much worse than others. I recently decided to scale down my own self-imposed schedule and expectations of my Substack and declared that it's going to be a "blog" instead. That freed up my mental energy and angst of always chasing for that elusive "growth" and "traction." By turning away from the business metrics, I feel a lot freer and that may help me live and write in more inspired ways. I love the two questions you asked and will ponder over them this month.
I too placed a self-imposed schedule on myself and and it worked fine in the beginning, at least it seemed to but then life started life-ing (as the youngsters say) and I had to let it go... I will admit the numbers didn't initially matter to me but as my subscribers grew I did feel some pressure to over produce... since letting it go and focusing on quality over quantity did take some of the pressure off. My mental health had to come first. Wishing you luck in 2025
"Life started life-ing" LOL! I'm glad that you took action to let go of the self-imposed pressure to over produce, for the sake of your mental health. I think this is so crucial for those of us in midlife who have to deal with some really dense human-ing stuff. Best wishes to you too!
I love this way of reframing and I would agree that calling my Substack a blog, really does help to free up my mental blocks around writing and showing up here.
After all I've been blogging for years and in many ways this is no different.
I made Substack one of my priorities, but I feel I have taken on too much! I read every newsletter I subscribe to, try to be a good citizen, comment on essays, and also write my own newsletter. It is a lot, and then I find myself missing other things, trying to do them, and feeling stretched too thin.
Yes, it is! I'm better than I used to be—I would never say no to anything. My priority is trying to make connections with other writers and my writing.
I've definitely been feeling overwhelmed by trying to be a good citizen and reading everything I subscribe to. But I'm finding that I can't. So I'm opening things and skimming if I'm not finding it absorbing, in the name of focusing on what's most interesting/important to me. Haven't quite stopped feeling bad about that just yet...
Love placing some emphasis here. I think that for me part of the issue of doing/being too much is not that I don't have a small set of things I want to accomplish (and I always have to pare that down). Quite often is that an opportunity comes along and it sounds like it fits into the small sets of things but I haven't asked enough clarifying questions. I end up wasting time, energy and making alot of u-turns. Getting better at it but still....
I’m not sure if Substack will be one of my essentials in 2025 or not, but I like how you broke it down further into specific functions within Substack. That’s a more helpful and actionable approach and I will apply it to the others platforms I’m considering focusing on next year as well. Thanks!
What's the opposite of an essentialist? I think it's me. Or at least that's how my brain is behaving lately. I appreciate this post and will be mulling it over for a while ...
Thank you! Do you know the substack The Hyphen by Emma Gannon? Emma wrote a book all about what's sort of the opposite (but not quite) of essentialism called The Multi-Hyphen Life. You might find it interesting as a kind of a rebuttal to essentialism.
So, I pretty much put Substack on 'automatic pilot,' setting up things to publish all the way to Christmas automatically. Some are new, most are 'reprints.' I think that is OK. One lady in our church can't get enough of my stories. My wife says "you spend too much time at it."
I found the movie 'Lost Horizon' recently, where the Lamasery was a place of 'moderation;' Moderate authority, leading to moderate compliance. You see all these challenges to produce all the time. I say, how about moderately challenging yourself to produce, and then moderately challenging yourself to take a rest.
Just started the book a few days ago, and I share your opinion - even though the corporate and business examples are not down my alley, the message is highlighted well!
Thank you for this very motivating post! I wish I could say I’m already an essentialist, but I’m happy to say I’m on my way as my self-awareness grows. Substack is definitely a priority for me in 2025 as I transition from a corporate mindset to a writer/entrepreneur mindset—a joyful challenge with two children and after the age of 40, but I’m making progress. Here’s to good stories and good tunes, which is exactly what my Substack is all about!
Thank you for the recommendation of the book. I can certainly relate to wanting to do everything and getting caught up in the quagmire of producing for producing sake. As far as Substack, I have come to realize that notes aren't really my thing... I can't figure it out so I've let it go... I guess in that sense I am already a somewhat essentialist (shrug). In all things mental health is a priority. too many times we overlook ourselves... Take care of yourself Jessica :)
Once in a writing seminar, the instructor became the “Permission Fairy,” giving us permission (that we didn’t really need but really felt like we needed) to write memoir, no matter how messy. This essay is another “Permission Fairy” for me regarding Substack. I’ve been worried about doing all the things and feeling overwhelmed, and it’s nice to hurt the reminder that it’s okay for me to focus on just a few or even one: posting my biweekly essays.
Thank for this - you have summed up so many of my feelings on this so neatly.
My goal for 2025 on Substack is to take part in the 12 Chapters project run by Claire Venus, with an aim to finally getting around to a long held ambition of mine - to write a book.
I am definitely an essentialist because I specifically only say yes to journeys that align with my Ultimate Whys—everything I plan and do cascades down from my aligned desires. It is the only way I could cure my shiny new thing syndrome, which I've struggled with all my life.
A friend of mine said in a faculty meeting two years ago that we (as an institution) should "Do less, and do it better." I wonder if he'd read that book!
I think I already am largely an essentialist. I have a lot to do, but most of it is related to a few central projects/roles. And I'm a lot less nuts than several of my friends right now. (I'm tempted to get the book for one of them--but I feel like it would be kind of passive-aggressive, sigh.)
I do think Substack will be one of my 2025 priorities. I'm having a good time with my writing and I don't want to give it up. It matters to me for its own sake, that is, for its role in my being who I am and doing what I care about--philosophy for regular people. But I also want to grow my audience because I'm hoping doing so will help me get my book published, so I want to find ways to do that. Notes is part of the equation, I think (thanks for the guidance on that a few weeks ago!). I'm open to learning what else I can do, and I appreciate this community!
I very much loved your article! Good to know I'm not the only one in the overwhelm boat feeling like I've lost my paddle. I've been spending many hours writing and walking and pondering my clarity of purpose. I feel it somatically in every cell of my body, but I don't have a cognitive understanding of what to do with that yet. My client work tends to slow down this month so I'm taking all that space and time to be with this knowing. I know I want to rebuild how I relate to things, activities and people in my life and that's scary, because it spells loads of change. Thanks for summarizing the book so expertly and pointing out the powerful questions to ask ourselves.
Thank you for this timely article, which validates what I've been going through. November-December are the hardest months for me personally, but this year it's been much worse than others. I recently decided to scale down my own self-imposed schedule and expectations of my Substack and declared that it's going to be a "blog" instead. That freed up my mental energy and angst of always chasing for that elusive "growth" and "traction." By turning away from the business metrics, I feel a lot freer and that may help me live and write in more inspired ways. I love the two questions you asked and will ponder over them this month.
Sometimes "scaling down" is just the right thing to do for the time being. There's freedom in it, isn't there?
Oh yes, absolutely!
I too placed a self-imposed schedule on myself and and it worked fine in the beginning, at least it seemed to but then life started life-ing (as the youngsters say) and I had to let it go... I will admit the numbers didn't initially matter to me but as my subscribers grew I did feel some pressure to over produce... since letting it go and focusing on quality over quantity did take some of the pressure off. My mental health had to come first. Wishing you luck in 2025
"Life started life-ing" LOL! I'm glad that you took action to let go of the self-imposed pressure to over produce, for the sake of your mental health. I think this is so crucial for those of us in midlife who have to deal with some really dense human-ing stuff. Best wishes to you too!
I love this way of reframing and I would agree that calling my Substack a blog, really does help to free up my mental blocks around writing and showing up here.
After all I've been blogging for years and in many ways this is no different.
I’m glad that the “blog approach” helps you free up your mental blocks too, Louise!
I made Substack one of my priorities, but I feel I have taken on too much! I read every newsletter I subscribe to, try to be a good citizen, comment on essays, and also write my own newsletter. It is a lot, and then I find myself missing other things, trying to do them, and feeling stretched too thin.
Oh, that does sound like a lot! Isn't that feeling of being stretched too thin so awful?
What's your top priority right now? Is it your own writing? Or making connections with others? Maybe start with that....
Yes, it is! I'm better than I used to be—I would never say no to anything. My priority is trying to make connections with other writers and my writing.
I've definitely been feeling overwhelmed by trying to be a good citizen and reading everything I subscribe to. But I'm finding that I can't. So I'm opening things and skimming if I'm not finding it absorbing, in the name of focusing on what's most interesting/important to me. Haven't quite stopped feeling bad about that just yet...
Love placing some emphasis here. I think that for me part of the issue of doing/being too much is not that I don't have a small set of things I want to accomplish (and I always have to pare that down). Quite often is that an opportunity comes along and it sounds like it fits into the small sets of things but I haven't asked enough clarifying questions. I end up wasting time, energy and making alot of u-turns. Getting better at it but still....
I certainly relate with that! It's so hard to say no!
I’m not sure if Substack will be one of my essentials in 2025 or not, but I like how you broke it down further into specific functions within Substack. That’s a more helpful and actionable approach and I will apply it to the others platforms I’m considering focusing on next year as well. Thanks!
Thank you! I’m glad it was helpful.
The power of "no".
Yes! The power of saying no to others as well as to ourselves.
Exactly!
What's the opposite of an essentialist? I think it's me. Or at least that's how my brain is behaving lately. I appreciate this post and will be mulling it over for a while ...
Thank you! Do you know the substack The Hyphen by Emma Gannon? Emma wrote a book all about what's sort of the opposite (but not quite) of essentialism called The Multi-Hyphen Life. You might find it interesting as a kind of a rebuttal to essentialism.
https://thehyphen.substack.com/
Ah, yes, I'll check it out -- thank you, Jessica! I am surely multi-hyphenated. And maybe feeling the need to reconsider that approach 😊
So, I pretty much put Substack on 'automatic pilot,' setting up things to publish all the way to Christmas automatically. Some are new, most are 'reprints.' I think that is OK. One lady in our church can't get enough of my stories. My wife says "you spend too much time at it."
I found the movie 'Lost Horizon' recently, where the Lamasery was a place of 'moderation;' Moderate authority, leading to moderate compliance. You see all these challenges to produce all the time. I say, how about moderately challenging yourself to produce, and then moderately challenging yourself to take a rest.
Just started the book a few days ago, and I share your opinion - even though the corporate and business examples are not down my alley, the message is highlighted well!
Yes. I agree. Most of the examples weren’t relevant but I liked the book’s message.
Thank you for this very motivating post! I wish I could say I’m already an essentialist, but I’m happy to say I’m on my way as my self-awareness grows. Substack is definitely a priority for me in 2025 as I transition from a corporate mindset to a writer/entrepreneur mindset—a joyful challenge with two children and after the age of 40, but I’m making progress. Here’s to good stories and good tunes, which is exactly what my Substack is all about!
With love
You've got this! I'm on my way too. Just turned 50 and my self-awareness keeps growing!
Thank you for the recommendation of the book. I can certainly relate to wanting to do everything and getting caught up in the quagmire of producing for producing sake. As far as Substack, I have come to realize that notes aren't really my thing... I can't figure it out so I've let it go... I guess in that sense I am already a somewhat essentialist (shrug). In all things mental health is a priority. too many times we overlook ourselves... Take care of yourself Jessica :)
Thanks, Tamara!
Once in a writing seminar, the instructor became the “Permission Fairy,” giving us permission (that we didn’t really need but really felt like we needed) to write memoir, no matter how messy. This essay is another “Permission Fairy” for me regarding Substack. I’ve been worried about doing all the things and feeling overwhelmed, and it’s nice to hurt the reminder that it’s okay for me to focus on just a few or even one: posting my biweekly essays.
Isn't it a relief to know that it's actually a very good thing for us to focus on just a few things at time?
*have the reminder, LOL
I’ve been reading this book for the past week and I’m in love with the concept! Totally agree that it’s 💯 applicable to on line presence!!!
Thank for this - you have summed up so many of my feelings on this so neatly.
My goal for 2025 on Substack is to take part in the 12 Chapters project run by Claire Venus, with an aim to finally getting around to a long held ambition of mine - to write a book.
Oh, I love everything that Claire does! Wonderful news for you!
I am definitely an essentialist because I specifically only say yes to journeys that align with my Ultimate Whys—everything I plan and do cascades down from my aligned desires. It is the only way I could cure my shiny new thing syndrome, which I've struggled with all my life.
Me too! I'm learning to say yes to what aligns with my Big Whys.
A friend of mine said in a faculty meeting two years ago that we (as an institution) should "Do less, and do it better." I wonder if he'd read that book!
I think I already am largely an essentialist. I have a lot to do, but most of it is related to a few central projects/roles. And I'm a lot less nuts than several of my friends right now. (I'm tempted to get the book for one of them--but I feel like it would be kind of passive-aggressive, sigh.)
I do think Substack will be one of my 2025 priorities. I'm having a good time with my writing and I don't want to give it up. It matters to me for its own sake, that is, for its role in my being who I am and doing what I care about--philosophy for regular people. But I also want to grow my audience because I'm hoping doing so will help me get my book published, so I want to find ways to do that. Notes is part of the equation, I think (thanks for the guidance on that a few weeks ago!). I'm open to learning what else I can do, and I appreciate this community!
I very much loved your article! Good to know I'm not the only one in the overwhelm boat feeling like I've lost my paddle. I've been spending many hours writing and walking and pondering my clarity of purpose. I feel it somatically in every cell of my body, but I don't have a cognitive understanding of what to do with that yet. My client work tends to slow down this month so I'm taking all that space and time to be with this knowing. I know I want to rebuild how I relate to things, activities and people in my life and that's scary, because it spells loads of change. Thanks for summarizing the book so expertly and pointing out the powerful questions to ask ourselves.
Thanks for reading! Slowing down to gain more clarity is so important. I like your "overwhelm boat" with a lost paddle metaphor :)