I messed something up. Made a bad judgment call. And now, I’m quite pissed at myself. Although I (hope) I learned a few things.
Here’s what I did: I used a tool that sends canned messages to people letting them know about my newsletter. I wrote the content, and it did the work.
If you got one of these messages, I apologize.
Here’s why it happened: not excuses, but explaining because there are lessons from my mistakes. The whole thing left me feeling both stupider and wiser.
1. I found a great tool for sending messages automatically. It was simple to figure out and set up. So simple, in fact, that I didn’t take the time that I wish I had to think through whether to do it at all. Marketing automation tools can be seductive. So, reminder #1, whether and why always come before what and how.
2. I wanted to get as many people to know about my newsletter as I could. Partly, I justified it to myself because it’s not a paid subscription. So I’m not selling, I’m informing. The trap that I set for myself is that I thought of my newsletter as a product. It’s not. It’s a work of love, a passion project, an idea that merits organic growth, however slow. Reminder #2, think like an ecologist, not like a factory farmer.
3. I got caught up by exactly the kind of growthism that I usually argue against. And I really do have empathy for why people fall for it, even when I critique it sharply. My own mistake reminded me to be gentler. We have a message that we want to get out. We have less than no time to do so. An insidious promise to make it all easy emerges. And sometimes, we say “yes” to it. Reminder #3, ignore all the dogma and 10xifying discourse, and watch out for when it creeps in on your thinking. “Deal with the Devil” seems melodramatic. But let’s call it a pact with a imp.
4. I didn’t follow my own advice. This last point is especially galling. I do know better, and therefore, I should have done better. There are always those moments in life where we do exactly the thing that we would warn a loved one against. The job any reasonable person (except you) should walk away from, the relationship any reasonable person (except you) should end. And then we finally get it, realizing we already knew. Reminder #4, find space and silence within the noise (see #3), and then listen to your inner voice and exercise discernment.
