#006—Don't overthink it 🙂
Hi all, can you believe that it’s already July?! Recently, I’ve been hearing from many of you who are thinking about starting new podcasts, side-hustles, jobs, and businesses.
Last week, I got an email from a community member who wanted feedback on a pitch deck, and they prefaced the email with “Sorry if this makes you cringe. I’m just starting out.”
I get it. I’m working on two new products right now, so trust me when I tell you, I can relate to the self-doubt. To the fear of failure, the second-guessing, and the analysis paralysis.
But this morning, I was reminded: beginnings aren’t supposed to be great. They’re supposed to be the start of something great. So if you’re feeling awkward or cringing at your beginning, own the awkward. Keep going so that one day, you can look back at these moments and be proud 💜
So if you’re thinking about starting something new, but you find yourself overthinking it, I’m including some tips for you in Final Thoughts.
And as always, feel free to forward this to anyone you think could use it! And if you’re interested in getting more insights on life and work from some truly incredible people, check out the Edvolution podcast!
Now, let’s get to the resources 💥
💼 CAREERS AND JOB HUNTING
If you’re on LinkedIn regularly, chances are you’ve heard of Austin Belcak and seen his incredibly helpful content. Austin manages his 200k+ platform and coaching business while working full-time at Microsoft.
Before Austin found success with Cultivated Culture, he had 4+ unsuccessful businesses. A social app, a music blog, selling apparel—none of them were “successful” in the traditional sense.
But each failure taught him something new that was critical to his business today. As the failures added up, so did his skills and new perspectives. Eventually, he combined all those skills and started Cultivated Culture, which he’s been successfully growing for years now. Austin opens up and tells his story on this podcast episode.
If you’re letting the fear of failure keep you from starting, remember that failure is the tuition we pay for success. ⭐️
And if you’re struggling with procrastination or productivity, check out this guide
I also really like much of Erik Torenberg’s advice on careers and personal moats - highly recommended reading it here
LinkedIn is offering free learning paths that map to in-demand jobs - check them out here
Here’s a list of 2400+ open roles among Techstars-backed companies, and 4700+ open roles among Y Combinator-backed companies
Y-Combinator also has this job application service you can use if you’re interested in working at a startup
If you’re a recent grad or college student, and lost your new grad job or internship, check out TalentBoard
👋 SOCIAL AND PROFESSIONAL HANGOUTS
I was talking to a mentor of mine earlier this week, and he casually mentioned he was learning to play guitar right now.
And after I got off the call, a thought popped into my head: “When was the last time I learned something just for fun?”
No goals. No justifications. Just… learning something new. Honestly, it’s been longer than I’d like to admit. And I’m sure some of you can relate. If so, then check out one of these fun events! 👇 I’ll sneak in a couple career-related ones too though!
DJ Session w/ Madam DJ via WeWork
July 8th, 2:00 p.m. PDT
Join us for a virtual set with local Chicago DJ, Madam DJ! We'll be unwinding from the day and dancing into the evening from home or from your private office at work. More details here.
Open Mic Night - Attend or Participate
July 9th, 2:00 p.m. PDT
We of Color + Pride of We, an hour of talent, laughs and community. Details here.
Workshop: Developing Emotional Agility
July 6th, 10:00 a.m. PDT
This session will focus on building an emotional vocabulary and generating situational awareness (e.g., how you perceive the world, how you respond to stress, and how this may be impacting your success). Details here.
Workshop: Personal Branding
July 9th, 10:00 a.m. PDT
Whether you are 25 or 55, having a personal brand is a necessity. Tom Peters was one of the first to explore the significance of personal branding in an article he wrote for Fast Company twenty years ago. Once primarily used by Silicon Valley CEOs, personal branding – aka self-branding – has evolved into a tool used by professionals, regardless of their industry or career level, to distinguish themselves and highlight their value and purpose to their target audiences. When done correctly, it aligns the perception of how people see you to the reality of who you actually are. Details here.
😎 COMMUNITY CORNER
The coolest thing about the Community Corner for me is that instead of handing out resources that I think will be useful to you all, I get to see exactly what many of you find helpful—and that helps me curate what I’m sending out.
It’s also a ton of fun to go through them myself and just check out what everyone finds interesting and supportive. I’ve been learning a ton from resources you’ve sent, like these:
Unlocking Us by Brene Brown, who unpacks and explores the ideas, stories, experiences, books, films, and music that reflect the universal experiences of being human
Nutrition: The Mind-Gut Connection by Emeran Meyer - did you know that 90% of our serotonin is made in the gut?
16 directories for US-based therapists of color
+ service to help you find a licensed therapist that accepts your insurance here
Therapy and expert-led classes for mental health here
Yale’s course on The Science of Being
⭐ FINAL THOUGHTS
Alright, let’s talk about overthinking and analysis paralysis. When I first started my podcast, people told me I needed an album cover, a list of booked guests, professional recording equipment, and a hundred other things. Even when I Googled what I needed to start a podcast, the lists that turned up made me feel freakin’ overwhelmed.
All I wanted to do was test out an idea I had. But I could tell that if I focused on getting everything set up perfectly, I’d psych myself out.
So instead of letting myself get stuck in analysis paralysis, here’s what I did:
I’d recently met Deborah Benton (former COO of Nasty Gal) and I really wanted to learn more about her story. Instead of having a typical 1:1 call, I decided to ask her to speak on my (then non-existent) podcast.
She said ‘yes’ and, just like that, I had my first guest “booked.”
Then I thought about the most basic things I needed to make the conversation work. I needed something to record on. So I signed up for a free two-week trial of Zencastr. I didn’t even worry about distributing it at that point—I just needed to get the audio from the conversation and worry about the rest later.
That’s how the Edvolution podcast came to life.
I’d been thinking about a podcast for MONTHS and turns out, I only needed to take these two simple steps to make it happen.
Recording the first episode gave me the motivation I needed to get the rest of the basic items I needed, but even then, I kept it super minimal.
Analysis paralysis stems from the need to be great, when all we really need is to get started.
My advice: take the first two smallest steps. Don’t even think about the steps after that (when you’re in this headspace). I promise, once you take the first two steps, you’ll be more likely to find the motivation to take the next one… and the next… and soon enough, you’ll wonder how it all fell into place 😉
You got this.
Let me know what you’re working on, or if you’re stuck on anything. I’d love to help wherever I can.
Cheers,
Shireen
p.s. If you didn’t already see all of the pictures I posted on my instagram stories, I’m officially an aunt! My nephew, Zayden was born on June 30th. As predicted, I am obsessed!
