Unbranded newsletter 2
The value of quitting: PART I
TLDR Outline:
Improvisational jazzzzzzzzz
The Positivity playlist: an essential tool for ‘times like these’
If you’re tired, sad, or feel like giving up… maybe it’s a good thing
The value of quitting
Introducing Art Frame vs Game Frame
Why I decided to scrap my business and start over
Audio: Click here to listen via audio (released under the ArtistCEO podcast)
Text:
Wuzzzup motherfuckkkkerszzzzz?!????!!!!!!! THIS LETTER IS A CREATIVE BOMB of HEARTFELT EXPRESSION brought to you by AN UNBRANDED FOOL (that’s me).
Pardon the overly-enthusiastic start; I’m currently listening to my Positivity playlist on Spotify, which makes me feel all FREE and INSPIRED.
(If you click the link, be forewarned: my playlist contains an inordinate amount of Disney songs).
I created a Positivity playlist because it’s one of my ‘life tools’ for when I need a little musical medication for my mood.
The Positivity playlist has been on heavy rotation lately. Why? You guessed it: I haven’t been feeling very positive. If I may, I’ll give you a quick overview, with the suspicion that I’m not the only one out there feeling one or more of the following:
Really tired.
COVID burnout and adrenal fatigue. Zoom fatigue. Client work. Employee turnover. Talent shortage. Cancel culture. Business owner. Mental health management.
Your recipe might look different, but I bet you’re kinda soul-tired, too.
Sad and strange
In case you’re wondering: we don’t need a reason. (And if you need one: COVID). Grief/change/loss is an inextricable part of life. It’s even valuable. We all know this, yet how often do we try to squirm our way out of feeling it?
One colleague described it as “moving through water” and another as “waiting for life to begin.”
I’m feeling it. You?
Disappointed, cautious, and...
At some point, we do have to reckon with what our new normal is... and isn’t.
Yes, as we come out of lockdown and summer arrives, there’s a growing optimism as we see the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. But there’s also a feeling of caution as we squint painfully into that light.
Are we ready to brave this new world? Are the lives we were living in 2019 still relevant in 2021?
I know for me I’m disappointed over the fact that COVID has sapped my energy and motivation to do just about everything. Including running a business.
...Weirdly relieved
Aggregating all of that is the perfect recipe for giving up. And as someone who has lost people to suicide, that kind of “giving up” language can feel scary-dangerous.
But it can also be crazy-liberating. Now that I know we’ve made it through the crisis period (🤞🏼), I’m finally allowing myself to crumple to the floor and throw a little private tantrum of defeat:
“I don’t want to do this anymore. I don’t care about meeting my long term business goals. I don’t want to be ambitious. I just want to be happy and healthy. I give up.”
Upon letting myself feel the surrender of defeat, I am weirdly relieved. There is freedom in things falling apart. To quote female Zen nun Chiyono:
“With this and that I tried to keep the bucket together,
and then the bottom fell out.
Where water does not collect,
the moon does not dwell.”
The value of quitting
When asked, I often tell new business owners and entrepreneurs that the #1 essential quality for success is Perseverance. Which is true. When running a business, you’re going to want to quit--over and over and over.
I can’t tell you how many times I said “I can’t do this” but then… did. And I am so grateful I did. I wouldn’t have achieved half of what I’ve accomplished if I’d bonked out earlier.
But sometimes you hit a point where you just, can’t, go, on. And you shouldn’t go on. The universe has been holding up metaphorical Yield signs you missed. Then came the Stop signs you conveniently ignored, and finally traffic cones go a-flying as you pretend everything’s fine while still plowing through the barricades.
That’s when your (still metaphorical) car breaks down. But there’s no AAA for this kind of shit.
In cases like these, it is not about perseverance, but realizing it’s time to pivot or let go.
Examples:
Staying in that relationship even though you know it’s over.
Trying to make that friendship work even though they’re no good for you and will never change.
Doing anything that requires you pay with your health.
Refusing to leave your job because it provides security but is sucking dry your soul.
Growing your business despite feeling misaligned because we’ve been sold the idea that business success = an ever-expanding, upward-sloping-line
In these cases, it’s obvious that quitting has major value.
~ Quick detour for a childhood story: ~
I was a competitive gymnast in my youth. I was good, not great. But I wanted to be great. So I worked hard. I recommitted again and again, insisting I take extra classes and hire a private coach. And all the while, I’d come home crying: injured, discouraged… unhappy.
My mom kept saying to me: “you can quit anytime, you know.”
But I couldn’t quit. That’s what quitters do. I am not a quitter. I am a hard worker! I WANT BLUE RIBBONS AND MEDALS AND GOLD FUCKING STARS!
And then one day I was just… done. I was done getting injured. Done giving up all my free time. Done working my ass off but always feeling behind. Seth Godin calls this a culdesac.
I was also 14 and getting into theater arts and I realized… I’d rather be happy than a gold medalist, and that’s ok.
So I quit the team, and ended up taking recreational gymnastics classes once a week or so all the way through college. Which was fun. Imagine that!
It ended up that I didn’t need to be the best. I just needed to be happy.
~ End of story ~
The epilogue to the story is that I got into theater and writing (and boys) and never looked back. I didn’t quit because I lacked perseverance; I quit because it was time.
Art Frame vs Game Frame
This leads me to the value of using the Creative Process as a frame for business, work and life.
Typically, when we talk about business and entrepreneurship, we’re using a game metaphor: we play by setting a goal (“Achieve 2.5 million in gross revenue by EOY 2027”). Then we try to achieve it. If we do: win! If we don’t: #fail. This is the Game Frame.
In art, however, things are less linear. We are constantly revising: we brainstorm, we doodle, we draft, we rewrite, we rewrite again, we get writer’s block, we get re-inspired, that doesn’t work out, we swear we’ll never create ever again! and throw the whole script out and start over. But eventually we make something.
It’s called the creative process.
Quitting--which we can redefine as discarding what is no longer working or useful in order to make room for what is--is easier if we’re using the Art Frame rather than Game Frame.
In the Art Frame of Business, we’re continually revising our creation -- this means business plan, org structure, goals, vision, or that the business even exists. We’re allowed to start over sans guilt or a sense of a failure.
It’s like finger painting, but with profit margins.
And that’s exactly the frame I used to re-evaluate my quite-profitable but stressful, not-aligned company House of Who, Inc. I asked myself the same questions I do when I’m making art, writing a play, developing a character, crafting an article:
Am I excited about the vision of this project? (Yes, but less so after 2020.)
Is this the project I most want to pour my creative energy into right now? (No).
Am I enjoying the process of creating it? (Not anymore).
If I started over, what would I do differently? (I’d make a much more streamlined business that would serve me rather than me serving it. I’d simplify everything. I’d create more time to write.)
What needs to happen in order for a new creation to take place? (I need to have the courage to scrap everything and start over. )
And so I did.
STAY TUNED FOR PART II… How and Why I Exploded my Business
