
When I started this newsletter, my goal was to publish once a week for an entire year. Today, you are reading the fifty-second consecutive edition of “Sam’s Newsletter.”
I don’t expect any flowers for this accomplishment, but I’m pretty damn proud of it.
When I was twenty-three, I decided to go to college and get an undergraduate degree. It was a goal I made for myself, that took me seven years to accomplish, but I got it done. It was the first time in my life that I did something like that. I was never a goal-oriented person (I’m still not really). But after doing the college thing, things I’ve done since, and now this newsletter, I feel confident that I can accomplish anything I put my mind to. And so can you. Self-discipline is free, it goes a long way, and it’s something we all have access to at all times.
What I’ve Learned Doing This for a Year
For myself, there is tremendous value in a deadline.
It is Impossible to overstate the importance of Momentum.
My wife is amazing. It would have been easy for her to be dismissive and unsupportive of this endeavor, and she’s been exactly the opposite. She’s read, edited, and helped me with almost all fifty-two editions so far. It’s taken her a lot of effort, patience, and even some sacrifice (we’ve lost many Sunday mornings and some afternoons to this publication).
Writing is hard. With my newsletter, I’ve learned “how I write.” I’ve come to think of it as a puzzle. I need to get all my thoughts on paper and figure out how they fit together, if they make any sense, and whether or not they are meaningful.
Gaining subscribers is hard.
Sharing personal feelings and things from the past is difficult, but worthwhile. I had to overcome many fears in this area. Some examples:
“My friends and family will be upset with me for expressing a view I have that they don’t agree with.”
“Why should I bother publishing something to an audience of five people?”
“This has probably already been said one hundred times.”
“I have no authority or credibility to speak on this topic.”
“Maybe I’m the only one who thinks this.”
“This is not a good idea, I’m not a good writer, no one will take this seriously.
I don’t care about these things anymore. I say what I want to say, I hope that it’s good, and I do the best I can to make it good and applicable to other people. No one is thinking about me and that’s ok. That’s a good thing. I’m free. As are you.
Everyone should have a creative outlet. It’s difficult to look internally and figure out who you are. You’ve got to let it out to see for yourself and to show the world.
You all are awesome!
I appreciate all fifty-four of you immensely. It’s a crazy world we live in that I can broadcast my thoughts to you each week and some of you actually read them, and enjoy them, and say nice things to me about them. It’s a blessing, and I do not take it lightly.
Overall, it’s been a great experience for me to write this each week, my only hope is that it’s half as good for you to read it, and based on what some of you have told me it is, and that makes me very happy. That is what I will hang my hat on for now.
Thank you so much for reading!
Enjoy the rest of your day!
-Sam
So great to see your accomplishment! It was a great year to get started.
Hell yeah