CW #61: The Truth About Finding Clarity

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Hi Friends!

Happy 4th of July to everyone celebrating in the States today, happy belated Canada Day to my fellow Canadians, and happy weekend to everyone else.

Before we get into this week's issue, a tiny bit of housekeeping:

I'm on vacation this week (woohoo!) and as such we'll be skipping next week's issue of the newsletter. I'll be back in your inbox, fully recharged on July 18th.

As always, you can see what I've been working on lately in my weekly update post.

In this week's issue, we're talking about clarity.

Specifically, how to find the certainty to take the next step forward on your creative expedition when it feels like you're stuck in a heavy fog. If you're like me, this is most of the time...

Let's get into it.

The Surest Way To Find Clarity As A Creator (And Why You Probably Already Have It)

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​[Read in your browser]​

Years ago, on a road trip with friends, I was driving along a winding mountain road through the Ouachita National Forest in Arkansas when we hit fog.

It was late afternoon, but the fog was so thick it felt like dusk. In the daylight, the road had been a dream, twisting its way through the vibrant autumn foliage and we gleefully chased it like a slalom skier on a gold medal run.

Now, however, with visibility limited to just 30 feet or so in front of the car, the mood had changed. The carefree vibe had evaporated into the mist and been replaced by a dull, throbbing tension.

For five minutes, then ten, then fifteen, no one spoke. At some point, the CD in the stereo reached its end and we simply drove on in taut silence.

Headlights materialized out of the fog with little warning before being immediately swallowed up again as they passed. While the cars were alarming, I was more concerned about the deer or elk I was sure would appear in the middle of the road at any moment with no headlights to signal its presence.

We slowed down, and thought about stopping to try to wait for the fog to lift. But with the fog already having its way with the late afternoon sunlight, we didn’t want to see what it would do with the night.

And so on we drove through the fog.
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• • •

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Looking back years later, I realize we made the right decision that day.

There are certain locations that are predisposed to fog. In these places, if you decide to try and wait the fog out, you need to be prepared to wait a long time.

These fog-inclined locations are often found in valleys, around mountains… and seemingly everywhere on our creative expeditions.

We often hit fog when we begin to climb in elevation. From the base of the mountain we can see the peak in the distance and eyeball the route we’ll take to get there. As we ascend, however, we quickly become engulfed in confusion and uncertainty.

We know our destination is somewhere above us, but can see nothing more of the route leading there than the 30 feet in front of us. Unable to see where we’re going and what obstacles are waiting to materialize out of the mist, we often choose to stop and wait for greater clarity.

This is a mistake.

Without any change in the external conditions, the fog will continue to sit low and heavy indefinitely. This means our only option to escape it is to move either up, toward our destination, or down the way we came.

The thing about moving through fog, however, is that while we might only be able to see 30 feet in front of us, if we travel that 30 feet, we can count on being able to see another 30 feet ahead of our new position.

​Shaan Puri has an approach to project navigation he calls the ABZ Framework which illustrates perfectly how to move through the creative fog. In the framework, A is where you are, Z is where you want to go, and B is the next step in front of you.

We often think of clarity as being able to see every step of the journey ahead in crystal clear detail, from A through Z. But to move forward at any point in time, we only really need to be able to see B, or the next 30 feet in front of us.

With this in mind, we can choose to view our creative expedition as nothing more than a series of 30-foot segments, each one coming into view as we move through the previous.

What’s more important than vision when navigating the fog is trust. Trust that by moving forward 30 feet, the subsequent 30 foot stretch of road will come into view ahead.

We all face regular patches of fog on our creative expeditions. Sometimes we get stuck in what feels like a sea of fog. When we do, we might be tempted to hold tight and wait for the sun to burn through.

But in the end, the only way to move through the fog is to move through the fog.
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1 // Podcasting: 9 New Atomic Essays On Podcasting

I joined the June/July cohort of Ship 30 For 30, an online writing challenge where participants ship 30, 250-word “Atomic Essays” over the course of 30 days. During the challenge, I’m focusing on writing and exploring some new ideas around podcasting. Some of my favourite essays so far include:

• ​The Scrappy Podcasting Manifesto​
• ​What Podcasters Can Learn From Saas Tools About “User Activation”​
• ​How To “Activate” Passive Podcast Listeners​

👉 Read the full collection here​

2 // Motivation: The Art and Science of getting to the very top of Crowded Creator Markets

“People think it’s too late to start a YouTube, a blog, a podcast, or a newsletter in a crowded market. But when weighing up the competition in crowded markets that require a lot of effort, you can discount 90% of your competition.”

It’s easy to get discouraged by the overwhelming amount of high-quality free content we’re all competing for attention with. This post, however, breaks down why the competition might not be as fierce as we think, and how to rise above it.

👉 Read the post (5 min)

3 // Discover: Read Something Great

Speaking of cutting through the noise, Read Something Great is a website that serves up timeless articles from the belly of the internet, allowing you to quickly find some of the best blog posts and articles ever written on a wide variety of topics including marketing, personal development, nature, art and more.

👉 Check out the website​

4 // Reflect: How to Overcome Your Fear of Failure with The Bucky Method

Looking at the careers of the most successful creators and marketers, the common thread is not the large number of creative successes, but the extraordinary number of failed attempts that happened to lead to those successes.

This means that if we want to reach our potential, we have to get comfortable creating and sharing a whole lot of ideas that might not work. The Bucky Method, a mode of thinking developed by one of the most prolific creators of all time, Buckminster Fuller, will help you get out of your head, and over your fear of failure, allowing you to ship more, and better work.

👉 Read the article (12 min)

5 // Feature Non-Profit: ACLU

This month, our team at Counterweight Creative is supporting the ACLU.

The ACLU works in the courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people by the Constitution and laws of the United States.

👉 Support the ACLU​

If someone sent you this newsletter and you want shiny new issues of your own, you can subscribe here.

As always, thanks so much for reading, it truly means a lot.

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This week I’m grateful for: Meeting a ton of awesome people through Twitter and Ship 30 for 30. Also, it’s cooled off (at least a little) from the 40C weather we had last week.
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Win(s) of the week: Did two fantastic podcast guest interviews with Heather Osgood of True Native Media (watch the live recording here) and Nick and Nicole of Podcasting Essentials (will be going live in a few weeks). I’m also really pleased with some of the Atomic Essays I’ve written so far as a part of Ship 30 For 30.
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I’m currently excited about: Taking this coming week off! Kelly and I are heading an hour north to Novi Sad to check out a bit more of Serbia, and it’s going to be great to unplug and recharge.

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A question for you: What's your superpower when it comes to the work you do? Are you properly showcasing it?

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Feel free to hit reply or join the conversation.