Four weeks ago I took a break from my podcast
(If you haven’t heard it and are still here,... I’d love to know how you found this and secondly, if you like this then you’ll love my podcast “Advertising is dead”)
So, yeah I took a break from my podcast after 100 weeks on the trot, and one of the reasons beyond just wanting to take a breather from the cyclical nature it had taken on for me was that I wanted to also take a moment to reflect, to look at what I’d done so far and think about any tweaks and evolutions I’d want to bring to it going ahead. And as I’m getting set to get back to the process with the #101’st episode that’s due this coming Tuesday, I wanted to share a framework that I revisited to bring clarity to my way ahead on the show. It’s something I’ve spoken about many times on workshops I’ve done ( i think I did make an Instagram post out of it sometime back) and in this case, I actually walked the talk and did go back to it like I’ve told people in the past and it was the best way to set a roadmap and also solidify the core soul of the show going ahead.
So, I thought it would be interesting to share it with you this week, and also show you what I had initially filled in and what I filled in during the last few weeks for you to see how this can evolve.
The framework is something I call,
“stuff you need to clear out before you do the thing”
Before we start any endeavour it could be a creative project, a startup idea or just a thing you wanna do on the side it’s important to answer a few questions and put a few points down so your mind and flow are in the right space. This doesn’t just give you a way to start with a sense of basic structure but also more importantly a base level sense of clarity.
It requires you to answer 4 questions,
Why do you want to take up this project?
Why are you the right person to take it on?
What’s your unique voice/pov to it?
What’s your perm-flex ( what are you never willing to change, and what are you flexible on with it)?
Now while this might seem basic and you might feel, “this is stating the obvious” what you’ll realise as you fill this up for yourself is that it doesn’t just make you think about the why and what… it also defines your commitment to the project. Because if you have enough weight to put the above down, then there is no reason why you shouldn’t do this and if there isn’t enough weight then you know this is something that needs rethinking. Check out my framework at the start of “advertising is dead”
But, this isn’t where it ends… now let us look at how I filled the same quadrants over the break from my podcast.
It is interesting isn’t it how some things have evolved yet some have stayed the same in essence. And while I was updating this I also realised I should have done this at 50 episodes and not 100 ( maybe for every 25.. but that might be overkill). But, most importantly it made me realise that we might ask our mind to keep our focus and commitment in check but sometimes it needs to see it on paper before it can print it into your subconscious.
So, this week I want all of you to take a swing at this for something you want to do (or maybe are already doing) and I’d love to hear what you came up with and how it worked for you ( you can write in to me at hellos@varunduggi.com).
Be sincere, be brief, be seated
This line by Franklin D Roosevelt is something I’ve gone back to many times. Whenever I feel like overstating my pov, stretching something longer than it needs to be and just to give my voice more space not because it needs it but because my ego feels like it requires it.. these lines help me get centered again. Because brevity has more power than we give it credit and if you can state something in the crispest manner then you don’t just get the point across, you also give it clarity and in many ways give it more weight because
only when you don’t have enough to say do you say too much.
This has especially helped me when I worry about my newsletter being too short, but then my larger question to you is .. is it getting the point across?
Catch you guys next week
✌🏽
Stuff you need to clear out before you do the thing & the significance of brevity