Part of the practice

Friday again! A week is not a lot of time (though it felt that way as a kid). 7 days can go by quite quickly. Whether you’re fully self-employed or have a 9-to-5 job, a week’s length may feel different to you.

But think about how much happens in a week with the continuous news cycle, changes in the markets, the amount of ads and social posts you see, combined with the places you go, the conversations or meetings you have.

And so there’s a lot to talk about, but sometimes it’s just so much that not one big idea or one big thing stands out.

I committed to this newsletter on a weekly basis. Every Friday morning, I send out The Intersection: a combination of things from the world of marketing and content, branding and strategy, social impact and community, and life and productivity.

It’s a way that I can curate, but also go deeper into some of the things that are going on.

Directly from me to you

That leads me to today, a Friday morning, with a reminder in my project management system, an overdue email alert, and even my daily briefing generated and read to me by an LLM, all telling me that I haven’t written or scheduled The Intersection yet.

Other priorities, events, and proposals took precedence.

Now you could say, Daniel, you have a content company. You help brands, founders, and organizations set up their content strategy, and your team creates content at scale. That’s absolutely true. We do that with our own company newsletter and social media, too.

But with this newsletter, I made a conscious decision not to simply turn it into something that could be 100% outsourced and offloaded to my team. Nobody else has the login to this newsletter platform. For now, The Intersection is directly from me to you. If I ever change that, you’ll know about it.

I think it’s OK to evolve your process and formats over time. I also had a plan to record video versions of every edition. It’s something I do wanna get into the routine of, but at this point, it puts another barrier or task in the way of getting it done.

The filming may need adjustments, my editor could get busy with a client project, or I could be on the go and unable to upload in time.

Having a practice

So what’s the point of describing all this?

Well, it’s all part of having a practice. And I think it’s important to have one.

Someone like Seth Godin has been blogging for more than 25 years and has committed to publishing a post every single day.

Meanwhile I’m here trying to stick with every Friday, which I’ve done with a few of exceptions over the last couple years.

Seth actually began experimenting with something that looked like a blog by email as early as 1995, when I was in elementary school. But the whole point is that by committing to what he calls shipping something every day, regardless of how he feels, he has written over 10,000 blog posts.

I think that’s one of the most legendary examples of professional consistency on the Internet.

Seth has a book called The Practice: Shipping Creative Work. Of course, it’s another bestselling book, and I read it during the pandemic. It was released in the fall of 2020, nearly six years ago. And I love it.

It’s a guide for writers, entrepreneurs, and artists who really need to overcome whatever is holding them back, whether it’s fear or other issues, to establish a consistent routine and share their gifts and ideas with the world.

Seth Godin says that the work we do, whether it’s writing or creating, isn’t mystical. You can reframe it as a deliberate professional choice.

So here are 5 of my takeaways from the book worth sharing:

1. Trust the process over the outcome

The idea is to focus on the daily routine of creating rather than obsessing over how the public will receive it. Just write, right? One takeaway for me is that the practice itself is what you can control.

I can’t control if you open this newsletter… or if you forward it, delete it, or only read the first paragraph. But what I can control is the output, committing to it, and putting it out there.

2. Shipping is an obligation

Another takeaway is that shipping is an obligation.

Creative work often is meant to serve, help, or change others. So shipping, which is more of a product term, means actually finishing your work and putting it out into the world.

It’s not optional. It’s a rule.

3. Consistency over perfection

Seth also believes that writer’s block is a myth. He says writer’s block is just a fear of making bad work. The remedy is simply to write mediocre work or write poorly until you start to write well. And so it’s about prioritizing consistency over perfection.

I’ve experimented with that as well in this newsletter. Some editions I’ve just done kind of a recap. Some editions I’ve had a chance to go much deeper. But I still have published it. (Also, looking back, I wrote about The Practice in this newsletter almost exactly 2 years ago!)

Same thing with my videos. I’ve done a few videos recorded on my phone while walking over the last month or so, as opposed to relying on the perfect studio day.

So writer’s block, in his opinion, is a myth. It’s just a fear of making something bad.

4. Imposter syndrome is normal

Seth says it’s proof that you’re a well-adjusted human doing challenging, innovative work that stretches your boundaries.

Personally, I don’t find that imposter syndrome is a factor in much of my work, certainly not for this newsletter. It’s more of a time thing. But I’ve spoken to many people who feel this way.

5. Embracing constraints

Nowadays, when we have access to unlimited everything from streaming, tools, software, inspiration… I think it’s important to embrace some constraints. Often with a project, we think about limits, like time, budgets, or specific formats, as roadblocks. They can be annoying, but it’s also helpful to use these as structure to help us spark ideas or creative solutions that we wouldn’t have otherwise come up with.

And in this case, the constraint is having a written piece of content for you every week.

For today’s edition of The Intersection, I actually wrote this by talking it out — a 16-minute voice note this morning. (Quickly transcribed it and copied it over into the browser). Here we are in the newsletter that you’ve made it to the bottom of.

Your weekly edition.
It’s part of the practice.

My hope is that you found one takeaway that was worth reading.
Thanks as always for your time and attention!

A few other things to explore

Create something before defaulting to consumption. 
There’s a very different feeling at the end of 30 minutes spent scrolling versus 30 minutes spent creating. Creating can feel more uncomfortable. You have to decide what you think, put it into words and risk sharing it with someone else. But that discomfort is also part of the reward. And you don’t have to publish everything you make. Creation still has value before it becomes content.

A chance to gather, share, grow and collaborate IRL.
The Summit I’ve been planning for the last year is a month away! If you’re working in the world of social impact and are in the Toronto area, check this out. It’s not a conference, but a day of skill-building, connection, and practical support. Save on your ticket by using my exclusive coupon code, INTERSECTION.

Have a great weekend!