Going Nowhere Fast 💨

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This edition is also brought to you by Shortform. Learn more at the bottom 👇🏾

Hi reader,

My favorite quote right now is from Dr. Tricia Hersey:

“Urgency is a myth that preys upon your fears of the future”

Life is busy, especially if you want to make an impact on the world. Making a better future requires movement! Add in bills, relationships, and other adulting aspects, and you’ve got a packed schedule.

But have you ever asked why you are so busy?

Like, beyond your capacity and even beyond as necessary?

In coaching hundreds of people and being coached, mentored, and supported myself, I’ve noticed that our busyness is often a symptom, not a cause in itself.

We say “Yes!” to everything because we are afraid of disappointing others, and disappointing others means they will not love us anymore.

We pack our schedules because we don’t want to slow down enough to feel our unprocessed pain from the past.

We stay busy so people will think we are important and may not, if we stay busy enough, recognize that we actually don’t know what we’re doing 👀

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This gets to the heart of what Dr. Hersey is getting at.

Yes, capricious governments, unfair systems, and unbalanced circumstances can facilitate a culture of urgency.

They always have. They always will.

But we buy into the culture of urgency because it allows us to run.

Run our blame to others so we don’t have to be on the hook.

Run our brilliant ideas to the back burner because there’s no time right now, there’s no time to plant the seeds.

Run our bodies into the ground because our exhaustion is too deep to be healed, so we should just keep going anyway.

What I love about chaotic moments in our lives is that it often creates a forced pause in our mind, our body, or our soul.

And that forced reset helps us realize that racing to tomorrow - squeezing in one last task, another late night, a bit more work - isn’t going to save us.

In life, the only way to safety is through.

And the healthiest way through is with a cared-for, well-rested heart ❤️

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Too anxious to slow down and too busy to stop?

On BringYourWorth.tv Live, I share how to rest at home, what you need to make time for yourself, and where you can get tools to calm yourself down.

We’re live, so bring your questions, feedback, and bathrobe 🛀🏽

Wednesday, February 5th

1:11 pm PT

👉🏾 Join us

One of the resources I wish I had when I started writing (cough) decades ago was the Institute for Independent Journalists. I’ve known founder Katherine Reynolds Lewis for almost as long as I’ve been freelancing and have loved her new, inclusive take on what defines good, important journalism.

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Details: 

Feb. 27-28, 2025

10 am - 7 pm ET 

Rest today will make tomorrow brighter 🌞

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🙋🏾 I’m Damon! (http://www.damonbrown.net) I help side hustlers, solopreneurs & others like yourself bloom. As a bestselling author, 2x startup founder & 4x TEDTalker, I co-founded the popular connection app Cuddlr and led it to acquisition within a year while being a stay at home dad with my infant son.

🫱🏼‍🫲🏿 Today, my boutique coaching business Bring Your Worth supports hundreds through one-on-one virtual and in-person support, as well as behind-the-scenes services for TED, HEROIC, and other impactful organizations. You can catch this free weekly newsletter as well as the 18,000-subscriber strong television show BringYourWorth.tv.

🚀 Think coaching could help you get to the next level? Reach out and let’s chat.

📚 You can also grab my 27th book, The Complete Bring Your Worth Collection, everywhere books are read, heard, and sold.

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