Here’s a question I
often get asked:
Why do you send out emails every day Tom? Why not once a week?
It’s a great question.
So let's take a peek behind the curtain.
Here are a few reasons why I email daily:
(or “weekday-ly”, as I do)
*** More emails means more reads, more clicks, more presence of mind, more opportunities and a stronger relationship with you, my readers
*** The more often I write, the clearer the concepts I’m writing about become for me and the deeper I understand them
*** I want to improve my email writing craft. Writing more means a quicker learning curve
*** One of the hardest aspects of writing a newsletter is continually coming up with new ideas. But the more emails I send, the more new ideas I have. It becomes a virtuous circle
*** I love writing these emails. Sending daily emails means I have 5x as much fun vs sending weekly
But guess what?
I made all these reasons up!
I mean, they’re true in one sense. Reasons like these often get trotted out by copywriters and other daily email dandies.
But they’re made up in the sense that these are the
reasons I email daily.
I don't think they are.
See, if I was writing weekly emails, I could just as easily come up with a similar list of reasons (takes less time, allows for deeper reflection, aligns with what
readers expect, more time for research, I don’t have to come up with as many ideas, and so on and so forth…)
These reasons are just as true as the ones I gave for mailing daily, even though some of the reasons are the complete opposite of each other!
So there’s a broader point at play here which goes far beyond emails:
Whatever action you’re taking, you’ll always find reasons why that action is a good idea.
It might require some thought, but the
reasons will be there.
Thinking of switching job? I bet you have loads of reasons why that’s a great idea. And loads of reasons why staying in your job is a great idea too.
Thinking of getting a dog, moving house or having a
difficult conversation with someone? Same here too. If you look deep enough, there will be 1,001 reasons why each of these is a great idea, and oodles of reasons why the opposite is also a great idea.
No wonder it’s so easy to get completely caught up in the pros & cons, ins & outs and whys & wherefores of life.
But here’s the thing:
I honestly don’t think reasons count for all that much.
If anything, they’re distractions.
Red herrings.
All they do is muddy the waters by trying to rationalise what we already know. By leading us to overvalue what looks good on paper and devalue what simply feels right.
And what I’m increasingly seeing is that this feeling – this knowing – is where the answers lie.
I know this sounds simplistic.
Overly simplistic
perhaps.
Maybe even…dare I say it?...irresponsible. After all, how can someone live life by simply following what feels like the right thing to do? Shouldn’t we take life more seriously than this?
All I can say
is:
I remember stumbling on the idea of daily emails and thinking “how cool”.
A couple of weeks later I wrote my first email.
The day after I wrote my second…
And here we are 18 months later.
There wasn’t that much more to it. It really just felt like the right thing to do.
This might baffle those who always need a plan or who’ve weighed up the advantages and disadvantages of all their options to the nth degree.
But what else can I say?
It is what it is.
Following my knowing is something I’m trying to do more nowadays, in all parts of life.
There’ve been no disasters so far (famous last words!) and life has started to flow much more
as a result.
So I’m sharing this for whatever its worth.
This comes up now and again on coaching calls too.
It won’t surprise anyone to hear that my coaching has nothing to do with lists of pros & cons, action plans and keeping you accountable to those actions.
Instead, my coaching will help you find the clarity and inner knowing which means none of this is even necessary.
If you’re interested, more info here:
https://waitinglist.followingfulfilment.com
- Tom