When starting this newsletter, I made a promise to myself that I am going to write an issue every week.
I kept my promise for the first couple of months.
But soon my enthusiasm died out and eventually, I stopped writing.
What happened?
Adding value
I always think twice when I am about to hit “publish” on a new article. When sending out a new issue, I am making an implicit claim to the readers that — given the infinite choices that exist, to which you might choose to devote your time — what I have produced is worth your time to read, and it will be providing something of real value.
I stopped writing partly because I feared I was not producing enough value to ask for my reader’s time.
Fear of being misunderstood/judged
When starting, I had only a handful of subscribers; most of them my family and friends. I was so comfortable writing down my thoughts and sharing them with the few subscribers I had. But eventually, I got more subscribers (I am happy that I did) that includes total strangers and people with whom I only have a professional relationship. This added the pressure not to be “misunderstood”, especially given that we sometimes discuss politics in this newsletter.
What changed?
I figured out a way to add value consistently. (the plan includes adding more memes)
I stopped worrying too much about what others might think.
What’s next?
I will write regularly again starting this week. I decided to tweak the newsletter format a bit. From now on each week’s issue will have “value sections”.
Some of these value sections will be personal. Like “What am I excited about?” - will contain exciting shit as the name suggests. “What am I reading” - this will include interesting bits from my daily reading.
Some others will be more value-focused like “This week’s links” and “What I learned this week”.
Stay tuned :-)