Cut the Fluff is a newsletter that will help you become a more confident writer, even if you're not a "writer." If this was sent to you, subscribe here so you don't miss the next lesson.
Hey Reader,
Happy New Year! I could lie to you and say I spent the past week reflecting, resetting, and planning for a better, more optimized me in 2025.
But, I didn't.
Not because I couldn't make time for it. I could've made the space during naps or in the precious few hours of peace at night after the kids are put to bed.
I avoided it because I didn't want to do it.
I wasn't entirely sure why, until one day on a walk to the shops while listening to Ezra Klein's Sabbath and the Art of Rest podcast episode, he said something that made my subconscious perk up:
"The modern world is obsessed with questions of space. We spend our days trying to master the spaces in which we live. And what we spend to do that is the time that we have to live."
Ooooof.
I spend a lot of my time on LinkedIn, which is a world in which we're all openly obsessed with optimizing our spaces — our businesses, our workflows, our homes, our bodies, our storytelling, our relationships, our authentiticity.
This isn't necessarily bad. Growth is good. Improvement is valuable. And LinkedIn, like any place you choose to spend time, is full of angels and demons.
But somewhere along the way, we've confused optimization with worthiness. As if we're somehow lesser humans if we're not constantly striving to master every space we occupy.
As I reflected on Ezra's words, I realized I didn't want to plan for an optimized 2025 because, deep down, I'm absolutely fed up with the idea of optimization full stop.
When your business is so intimiately tied to you, the person, it's too easy to feel less than when your performance dips. We openly claim we're unbothered, when in reality, we're blaming ourselves, our entire selves, for every fault, mishap, rejection, and twist of fate our business encounters.
"And what we spend to do that is the time that we have to live."
Here's what I'm starting to realize: Perhaps the most radical act of self-improvement isn't optimization at all — it's acceptance. Acceptance that we're human, that growth is messy, and that sometimes the best way to master a space is to stop trying to master it at all.
So instead of New Year's resolutions or optimization plans, I'm making space for something else in 2025:
- Space for being present instead of always trying to be better
- Space to celebrate where I am instead of obsessing over where I "could" be in one, five, or ten more years
- Space to appreciate my business growth without immediately moving the goalposts
Does this mean I'm giving up on growth? No. That would be antithetical to my desires to pay off diaper debt asap (😅).
I'm still deeply committed to helping people create better content, build stronger businesses, and achieve their goals, no matter how big or small. But I'm done confusing optimization with worth.
Maybe you're feeling this too. Maybe you're tired of the endless pressure to optimize every corner of your life.
If that's you, I hope you'll join me in remembering that while mastering our spaces is important, it shouldn't come at the cost of mastering our time to live.
Here's to a 2025 full of meaningful growth, messy progress, and the courage to sometimes just be instead of always trying to be better.
Cheers,
Erica
PS. Speaking of giving ourselves space to be imperfect...this is exactly why I'm loving my new group coaching community, Full Stack Solo, so much right now.
Instead of pushing people toward endless optimization, we're building a community where solos can experiment, iterate, and grow at a sustainable pace. No pressure to be perfect, just support to keep moving forward.
This post from Zach, one of our members, really hits the nail on the head re: everything I've been thinking about lately:
We're all guilty of shiny goal symdrome. And yep, Zach's right, it's exhausting.
But when you've got a community of other solos in your corner, and coaches guiding you through the imperfection of it all, "weird" (read: amazing) things start to happen.
We've been live for 1.5 months and have 40 founding members who've joined at the launch price.
The feedback so far has been phenomenal, and I'll share more of that in the coming days.
In the meantime, our launch price is rapidly coming to an end and in two days, the price goes up by 4x.
If you're on the fence, this is the best price it'll ever be, so join us now.​
​Or, book a call with us to chat through any questions you have.
Thanks for reading this far, and Happy New Year :)
|
|
New here? I'm Erica.
Your seltzer-loving solopreneur who helps you earn more money with content that moves people to action (but doesn’t feel salesy).
|
​