#1: Let's try this again. HELLO from Try Stuff Energy
I’ll Go First the newsletter (RIP) is evolving into Try Stuff Energy. Why? We’ll get into that today.
Ironic to the term “energy”, I have been zapped of anything resembling it the last month. Fortunately, I think of Try Stuff Energy as a mindset rather than an outcome. It’s a way of looking at the world that’s brave and authentic. It’s being open to putting yourself, your craft, ideas, thoughts, feelings out into the world, regardless of what anyone else has to say about it, including your own inner critic.
It’s choosing the iterator over the perfectionist and the procrastinator.
Source: Visualize Value
On Mondays after work I have a zoom call to chat about the Artist’s Way with three thirty-something women. We’ve created a space where it feels safe to share deep feelings and vulnerabilities (oh what women can do). It’s in these conversations that I’ve realized we share identical fears around pursuing creativity. What if it’s a waste of my intelligence? But it’s not ready yet… What if it turns out terrible? But what if I fail… What will someone think?
Having put 109 youtube videos out into the world, I have a cup runneth over of vulnerability in creativity, but I still get scared to share my work. I get scared to even make the time to do my work. Having try stuff energy is a practice.
Here is a text I sent to my girlfriend that sums up why I share anything online, ever.
I’ve always wanted this newsletter to take a life of it’s own on, outside of me. I finally found a reason big enough. And so, Try Stuff Energy was born :)
I’ll be using this newsletter to share what I’m working through and pull together the content I use to combat my inner critique to keep creating, keep building, and keep working towards a dream I can’t yet even distinguish the outline of yet. I hope reading it feels like a hot cup of coffee on a quiet morning, giving you the energy to do the work (and yes, sometimes that work is resting).
Sparks of Try Stuff Energy ⚡️
Jess Hannah Révész, Founder And Designer of J. Hannah via Into the Gloss on mindset:
“There’s obviously the probability you’ll fail, but you also might fall into the thing that you’re supposed to do. I wouldn’t say there was an aha moment when I realized making jewelry was what I wanted to do for a living, but once I stopped telling myself it didn’t have to be just a hobby, everything clicked into place.”
The fact that Hannah Bronfman, DJ and entrepreneur, impersonated an imaginary assistant named Ginny to negotiate her rates when she began DJing corporate gigs. Iconic. Hear her talk with Althena Calderone here.
Jennifer Hyman (founder of Rent the Runway, valuated at $1B), refused to let Diane Von Furstenberg’s assistant cancel their meeting when RTW was just an idea (and Jennifer was a business student). Her cofounder was in tears but Jennifer knew she needed that meeting. She showed up in the lobby insisting to meet with DVF, who did then take their meeting. Hear how she built Rent the Runway here.
Alex Pappas, olympic runner, filmmaker, and writing on The Rule of Thirds via Rich Roll podcast:
When you're chasing a dream or doing anything hard, you're meant to feel good 1/3 of the time, ok 1/3of the time, and crappy a third of the time. If the ratio is roughly in that range then you're doing fine. Today was the crappy day along your dream chasing. If the ratio is off, you have to look at if you're fatiguing or if you're not pushing yourself too hard. On the days when creativity doesn't come, or it doesn't feel great, you still show up because maybe that's your crappy day. But it doesn't mean you quit the goal, doesn't mean you freak out, it means you show up and live through that dip because you're chasing a dream and you're doing something hard.
Emmett Shine, founder and creative director of Pattern Brands (formerly Gin Lane, a design agency behind truly iconic D2C companies) on the power of consistency:
Oh and if you’re new here, welcome! I’m Caitlin Sowers and this is the 9th edition of this newsletter, but the 1st of Try Stuff Energy. I also make youtube videos.