I didn’t like the feeling I left from that newsletter last week.
In being so “right,” I was being so wrong.
I was disappointed that the two readers weren’t getting what they want and I failed to take responsibility.
Instead of pointing to the articles that I have put out to be helpful, I failed to see where my approach was letting them down.
Reflecting on this got me thinking radically different.
Dalio Helped
I read Ray Dalio’s book Principles last week, and it helped me dive deeper into some of these things.
His brutal honesty and good hearted intent, the proverbial iron fist in a velvet glove, comes across well in his writing, which got me thinking more about mine.
But most of all what I got from Ray was a continuous drumming of the importance of radical truth.
Through this lens I saw in that newsletter I was putting their lack of action onto them, when I first must put it onto me.
I Failed
If someone I know hasn’t taken the right action, then I have failed to do what I can for them.
If people are reading these newsletters for years and still not doing them, then I’m obviously failing to reach the right people or failing to deliver people what they need.
I don’t write because being a self-help expert is cool… but to share ideas that are actually helpful to people, yet I failed to see where I wasn’t helping.
The same is true with the other emailer I wrote about.
If she’s taking the time to write and tell me that my work sucks, then it does for her…
It was wrong of me to make her wrong, when I should be asking what I can do more right.
I’m Not Nike
Instead of learning the lesson and really thinking about what I must do better to serve people, I responded like a Nike slogan…
But, if it were so easy to Just Do It then why would I need all of these tools for myself? Why would I have spent years and years researching and training these skills?
Why would I still be putting to work pages of Daily Exercises? Because this takes serious training.
And like weight loss, while it is simple to lay out, it’s not easy to do.
Of course it’s obvious that most people only need to eat better and exercise more, but reminding them to Just Do It (Ooh-rah!) doesn’t make losing weight easy.
I know this. It’s the reason I don’t dispense advice but work with clients on retainer. Knowing what to do isn’t enough, so we work at it every week, getting better and better over time.
That’s what I seek to deliver in these newsletters, but if it’s not helping people who are taking the time to read, then that’s my shortcoming.
And while I know these ideas are valuable to many readers, I want to be taking all the feedback I can to keep improving.
This and other radical truths are leading me to take a different approach to these newsletters, which you will see over time.
What About You?
Where are you making mistakes, where if you looked at your actions with fresh eyes, you might make a change?
Even if you haven’t read Ray’s book, you can certainly begin to think about where a little dose of radical truth might well serve you.
What are just a couple of ways where if you could get beyond “yourself” and look at your situations more “truthfully” you might reach new conclusions?
Perhaps like me you have ways that you’re holding yourself back by not taking the feedback and growing.
What are some of the truths that if you adopted would make you and your life better?