#13 No one: nothing. Me: Yup, still alive.
and still learning strategy & how to let myself fail.
Hi,
This is Room To Fail, a newsletter about learning strategy and how to let ourselves fail, just to only get things right the next time. Or the next. Or the next year…
I’m Irina.
And here’s me one year later. Still sooo bad at failing.
🧠⚡︎BRAIN FAILURE
Yup, exactly one year ago I’ve written post number 12. This one was not intended to appear in your inbox in one year sharp, but it kinda - in a pretty cool way - happened. And this is how the whole year felt: an enumeration of events that threw me off and pulled me up again and again, so time and energy consuming that made me feel I didn’t even deserve the time to write this for myself and you.
Ofc, all of these 12 months were buried under a mountain of doubt - I thought I have nothing left to say. Or that everything I say sounds boring. I just couldn’t keep up with my own standards of what growth means. And yes, I failed to start a new letter to you week after week until I thought I’ll never start again.
This failure comes with a big (among few others) learning - find the time to plan for yourself, for things that bring you joy, not only for work or others. Uh, and also set the bar where you can at least see it. We are kinda bad at doing this for ourselves, aren’t we?! Or is it just me?
Eh, it’s ok. This was a good year because I learned a lot about myself, my limits, how to ask better questions or how to be patient and sit with your worst thoughts. And I think that helps me be a better strategist and, more than that, a better human being.
How was your year - end of summer to end of summer? Hope you smashed it! And if you failed then you still did smash the learning part, trust me.
Well, I still feel the bite on my ass where doubt have stuck its teeth -
- so I can’t promise anything (like a letter every week) other than honesty. And that’s because I would like to at least keep the promise that this is still a Room To Fail.
🤯 “HOW DID THEY THINK ABOUT THAT?!” SECTION
Come on, of course I have some cool links for you today - not here only to feel sorry for myself.
Here’s a cool report on climate change, sustainability and customer expectations from brands to not only protect, but also to help regenerate.
Short content video from Julian Cole on How to write a brief. By the way, I attended several webinars of his this year and they were great. Make sure you subscribe to his newsletter to get the news on that. Or check out his free brief writing mini-course.
I loved this article about cultural imprinting and other ways we think ads work. With examples.
That’s all for today.
Hope you are all well and enjoying this end of summer the best that you can.
And if you needed a reminder to do that one thing you have so many doubts about, this is it. Even it’s going to be a year later than intended.
Write to you soon,
i.
During this time you can find me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn. Or write to me anytime.