Don’t let your business become a prison cell

I woke up.

Yet another chance to experience this beauty we call life.

Except for...

This magical, mystical experience had become a prison cell for me.

The worst part?

I had built it myself.

I had a tight schedule this morning:

• Write a newsletter article

• Write a longform post

• Answer my DM's

Just 1 month ago I would have jumped out of bed, excited to smash every box of my to-do list.

But for the past few weeks, my mornings looked more like this:

• I pressed the snooze button

• Stumbled to my PC

• Stared at an empty page for 30 min

I fucking hated everything I did.

Even the stuff that used to be fun and fulfilling became dreadful.

The thing that was supposed to bring me freedom – my business – held me in shackles.

I'd lost enjoyment of the process.

I even got my first ever sale.

But what did I feel?

Nothing.

The first $ online is such a big milestone.

But I didn’t feel shit.

That’s when I realized what I’m doing to myself is fucking mental.

I was committing a mistake so costly, that it can’t be measured by numbers.

A mistake that costs life.

If you spend any time on X, you’re constantly exposed to people doing better than you.

(And tbf I’m partly contributing to that…)

You then adopt their standards as your own.

Which can be good motivation in the short term but will eat you alive in the long run.

This is how you turn something you once loved into your worst nightmare.

That exact thing happened to me with writing & building my business.

In short: I had a burnout.

But I can proudly and thankfully say that I’ve escaped.

I genuinely enjoy writing & creating again.

Here are a couple of things I did to escape this trap:

1. I worked in novel environments

One of my biggest mistakes was locking myself in my room to work.

So stupid.

Although it can be good for focus, you need new stimuli.

Otherwise, your creativity (& enjoyment) will suffer.

I visit coffee shops, sit down in a park, or just take my laptop to a different room.

A small change like this can make all the difference.

2. If I’m not present, I don’t work

Because a lot of the work we do as creators is creative work, it cannot be forced.

Whenever my mind goes crazy (which it does more often than I’d like to admit) I don’t work.

I whip out my journal and write about it.

I go for a walk.

I meditate.

Creative work is best approached from a place of presence.

So don’t try to fight the resistance. Surrender to it. Accept it. 

3. Have other things in your life

I was working 12 hours every day (with my job & uni).

Full-on tunnel vision – all I could think about was my business.

And whenever that was tanking, my happiness tanked as well.

But I coped.

Massively.

“I’m in my Rocky cutscene, I don’t care about being happy.”

Yeah right, stupid fucker.

As cliche as it sounds, you need balance in your life.

Some other interests to pursue.

1 hour of my day is now spent learning about something I’m genuinely interested in.

This has been such a game-changer for me – I can’t recommend it enough.

Explore your curiosities as it will also make you a better entrepreneur.

But I’ve waffled on for too long now.

This letter was a little bit different – I know.

But I felt it was important to talk about.

A heartfelt thank you and happy easter if you’ve read this far.

Your biggest fan,

Tim <3

About us: I'm Tim and over the past few months I have achieved over 1,500 followers on X. I'm looking for 2 more people to do the same and I can take care of the guesswork for them. You are receiving this email because You’re part of Cut the crap newsletter an absolute fcking rockstar who is gonna kill it in X and make your parent’s jaw drop with twice the speed of an F1 car, I will make sure that every piece of content you receive from me is no bs and straight to the point like my motto but if you would prefer to follow the path meant for losers, live a lifestyle that’s a complete joke, desolate the path of mediocrity then you can, of course, unsubs from the link down below and you would not be receiving these value bombs daily and you would be sweating with everyday tasks like you’ve been breakdancing in the Sahara desert, and without a mentor to guide you will make sure that you utterly fail in every realm of skills that ever existed, if that’s the case then we can turn in the workbook, shake hands and part as friends, no hard feelings, I’ll remember you and make sure you do not ever come back in peace. To make sure you receive emails from me every day just star this email and add me as a contact. We need to fight this as a team. I ensure that your personal information provided when signing up for my newsletter is safe. I use a ton of safety measures to make sure that your data is protected. I pride myself on my reputation and that means I would not be giving your personal information away to third parties. this email is meant to help you and if you use this for any bad purposes you'll be held guilty under the international law and this is not allowed to be copy-pasted. if any discrepancies are found the person responsible will be punished according to the copyright law. This email is a publication of the Cut the crap newsletter. If you have any questions about this just reply to this email or shoot me a dm on Twitter