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How to Deal With Rough Starts

Quitting and burning out? Leverage the power of the fresh start.

Author

John Canonizado
January 04, 2023

Hey amorteurs,

We missed yesterday, but that is okay.

Why? You'll see in this post.

Let's get started.

Are You Quitting and Burning Out as a Creator?

Quitting and burnout are among new and experienced creators' greatest challenges.

For something as difficult as creating, which carries for many no tangible external pressure, creating is yet another game that we quit.

Or, we go all in and lose steam. Life gets in the way, our motivation dips, and the timing just isn't right.

If you're struggling to keep up and stay in the game, this is for you.

I've quit and rejoined as often as I have fingers and toes: probably at least 13 times.

The conventional way is just not it.

Here's why:

Most People Rely on Motivation, Wait, or Give Up Entirely

There are typically 3 paths creators take when facing this challenge.

  1. They remotivate themselves.

  2. They wait for the "right" time.

  3. They give up entirely.

Even experienced creators can get to this point after a time when things plateau or they get tired. You see this all the time on Twitter and YouTube.

Given this challenge, the most important thing is not perfection. It's not even about consistent execution, though that's a necessary part of the growth recipe.

It's staying in the infinite game.

So, why are these 3 reasons bad?

Motivation is Unreliable, and There is Never a Perfect Time

Motivation is fickle and unreliable. Constantly trying to motivate yourself is not solving the root problem: it is too difficult. Motivation is not something you can easily control.

There will also never be a perfect time. There will always be something in the way to make creating just a little inconvenient. While you should be optimizing for the best environment and circumstances, often we chase the creator dream because the circumstances are unideal. We need something that transcends timing, in the life sense.

There are reasons to quit, such as if a task is not a good fit. But if you're quitting only because it's becoming too challenging to maintain, giving up entirely is the most tragic path.

Quitting entirely means quitting digital freedom. If you want to be a creator and live the dream, you have to play some game.

So, what can we do?

Leverage the Fresh Start

The New Year is a perfect example of what scientists call "temporal landmarks".

They are landmarks in time that carry mental significance. The New Year is a place in the year that represents a fresh start.

And it's these fresh starts where humans tend to set goals and begin again.

Although we can’t always determine when we start, we can exert some influence on beginnings—and considerable influence on the consequences of less than ideal ones. The recipe is straightforward. In most endeavors, we should be awake to the power of beginnings and aim to make a strong start. If that fails, we can try to make a fresh start. And if the beginning is beyond our control, we can enlist others to attempt a group start.

Daniel Pink

In pursuing our goals, we don't need to be perfect. We won't be perfect.

I find huge mental comfort in the fact that if and when we lose steam and possibly quit, it need not be forever.

We can simply take advantage of the tide of time and start again.

According to Dan Pink in his book When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, there are 86 days that are effective for making a fresh start.

  • The first day of the month (twelve)

  • Mondays (fifty-two)

  • The first day of spring, summer, fall, and winter (four)

  • Your country’s Independence Day or the equivalent (one)

  • The day of an important religious holiday—for example, Easter, Rosh Hashanah, Eid al-Fitr (one)

  • Your birthday (one)

  • A loved one’s birthday (one)

  • The first day of school or the first day of a semester (two)

  • The first day of a new job (one)

  • The day after graduation (one)

  • The first day back from vacation (two)

  • The anniversary of your wedding, first date, or divorce (three)

  • The anniversary of the day you started your job, the day you became a citizen, the day you adopted your dog or cat, the day you graduated from school or university (four)

  • The day you finish this book (one)

No matter how rough a start you had this 2023, it's time to get back up again.

The game is waiting.

Inspired by this tweet.

Thanks for reading this newsletter. You have my greatest appreciation.

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