Hey there —

When you daydream, where does your mind take you?

Is it on stage accepting an Oscar? Becoming a massive influencer on TikTok? Skateboarding at the Paris Olympics in 2024?

Now imagine getting up at a dinner party and announcing these dreams to everyone. Solid chance you’d 1) lose your appetite and 2) feel mortified.

When we divulge our deepest desires to others, we tend to preface it with something like, “It sounds ridiculous, but I’d love to do ‘X’.”

But...is it really that ridiculous? Someone’s out there doing it. Why can’t it be you?

Our larger-than-life fantasies are stalled by our own insecurities. We get embarrassed, thinking this kind of success is reserved for “talented” people. We tell ourselves we should be more “realistic.”

But you’re no different from anyone else. This includes the people you idolize. Everyone has fears, doubts, and insecurities. The only difference? People who smashed their goals persevered despite them.

We all begin on shaky ground. No one starts out as an expert. You need to remember that:It’s not about creativity - it’s about consistency.

It’s not about motivation - it’s about discipline.

It’s not about talent - it’s about practice.

Your heroes still have bad days. Like, really bad days. Even though they may seem like they’ve got it all together, they have days where they sleep in till noon. Days where they dread sitting down to do the work. Days where they feel like throwing in the towel.

We all doubt our own capabilities at times. But those who reach their goals see these thoughts for what they really are...an indicator that they're onto something big.

Your fantasy might seem a little extravagant. But that’s the point: it's supposed to represent your wildest dreams. As Dr. Seuss once said, “I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living.”

Dream on 💭

Early Work

Article | by Paul Graham

What freaks you out?

Maybe you think the world could do without clowns. Perhaps you have arachnophobia. Or suffer from arachibutyrophobia (IYKYK).

But few people would respond with “early work.”

Early work is the stage at the beginning of your project where it’s...kind of lame. Your half-baked idea looks messy and you haven’t developed the appropriate skills yet. Many people let their fear of early work prevent them from even getting started on a new project.

But imagine all the ambitious projects we could dive into if we didn’t have this fear holding us back. If only we could turn it off, amiright?

Author, Paul Graham says we actually can switch it off.

He suggests tactics like surrounding yourself with the right people, downplaying the seriousness of what you’re creating, and remembering the early-work stage is temporary.

Another useful tactic Graham suggests is to study the early work of well known creators. For example, here’s a picture of the handwritten lyrics of The Beatles tune, “A Hard Day’s Night.” It’s a mess. But the awkward ballad turned into a killer pop song.

Early work might freak you out. But if you push past the fear of initial lameness, you’ll make way for something fantastic.

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Present Bias

Article | by Todoist Blog

We’re constantly screwing over our future selves.

Think about it. We hit “snooze” instead of hitting the gym, scroll IG before diving into our morning workload, and eat chili chips instead of waiting for dinner.

We’re instant-gratification feins.

Turns out there’s a term for this. It’s called present bias, and it’s our tendency to give stronger weight to payoffs that are closer to the present. Or in caveman terms: Fun now. Worry later.

This article in the Todoist Blog provides actionable steps to help combat our addiction to instant-gratification, including making things easy for your future self, visualizing your future, and finding ways to make the “right” thing more enjoyable.

In the end, it all boils down to what World Weightlifting champion Jerzy Gregorek says, “Hard choices, easy life. Easy choices, hard life.”

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Weekend Wednesday

Video | by CGP Grey

What’s the best part of the weekend?

Friday evening? Saturday morning? Sunday night? (If you replied Sunday, we have some questions).

For most, it’s that sweet spot on Friday when you realize you can finally sleep in. But, it’s kind of sad the best part of the weekend is over before it’s even started.

Youtuber CGP Grey proposes a new solution: Weekend Wednesday.

Instead of the consecutive 5-day workweek, you take off Wednesday and Sunday. The result is increased productivity, an off-cycle advantage during the week, and a distraction-free work day on Saturday. Plus, when you wake up on Monday morning you’ve only got two days to go until Hump Day Weekend!

Curious to try this model for yourself? If you’re lucky enough to have a flexible schedule, join us! We’ll be trying it out at Snail Mail.

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Nick Himo

Presenting Nick Himo, an innovation consultant, strategy coach, and content creator located across the pond in London, UK. ick’s all about teaching others what tools or strategies they’ll need to launch their own businesses. An entrepreneur spawning new entrepreneurs - we love to see it.

Introduce yourself! Who are you? Hi! My name’s Nick and I have an unhealthy relationship with sticky notes/post it notes They’re stuck all over the walls of my apartment with motivational quotes and potential billion dollar business ideas. Is it just me? Or do you do this too?

Why do you create? Who is your content for? I help entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs grow or start a business. I guide them through the process of making a plan for their business (and sticky notes come in handy here for this.)

I make content because I feel privileged enough to have learnt some really cool business tools and techniques along the way that not enough people know about. So this is my opportunity to share it with everyone.

The biggest lesson you’ve learned since you began creating content? Creativity is a habit, not a talent. You get good by making stuff consistently over a long period of time. The best time to start is now. Like, right now. (That’s why I started answering these questions as soon as I got them!)

One thing you wish you knew before you started? Not necessarily content related but the keyboard shortcut for the emoji keyboard is Ctrl + Cmd + Space Bar on a Mac and Windows + ; (semi-colon) on PC. You’re welcome.

In one to two sentences, what’s one piece of advice you’d give to aspiring creators or self-development nerds? You should send a message to your heroes whether that’s via email, IG, LinkedIn or whatever. Just try it. You don’t know where it could lead. I messaged three of my heroes, Edward de Bono, Alex Osterwalder and Chris Do. All three responded and I now work with Alex.

Would you rather all songs exist but they are all performed by Pitbull, or only one Pitbull song exists but it’s performed by every artist with their own cover interpretation?I’d like to hear Harry Styles do a cover of Hotel Room Service.

Check out Nick's Youtube Channel →

Written by Alice Lemée

Edited by Matt D'Avella & Shawn Forno