#3 - Like Riding a Bike
Cycling struggles, Social Media, and being authentic
I can’t ride a bike.
Never cracked it. But actually? That’s ok.
In this weekly email I share the lessons learnt from launching Unplugged. There are plenty startup bumps and mishaps but also reflections on finding space in life and why it matters.
Child’s Play
I don’t quite know where it went wrong; I tried to learn.
My parents and siblings would coax me along whilst I clung to the handlebars in terror, sweat pouring down my brow. That was before the stabilisers came off.
Many tears and scraped knees later, I gave up.
I’m sure lots of people can’t do it, I thought.
I was wrong. When I tell people today they look at me as if I’d told them I can’t count to ten. It’s unheard of.
For years I thought I was deficient as a human but as time has gone by I realise it doesn’t matter in the slightest.
Overwhelming
Launching Unplugged has been much the same.
Social media is filled with examples of businesses doing far more, far better, and it can be demoralising.
Daily I wonder whether we need to hire a board of directors, or start a podcast, or build a Facebook community. But I also realise we don’t have to do any of those things. We’re free to tread our own path.
It all comes down to being authentic, a difficult thing in 2020.
On Being Authentic
The challenge we face today is that we’re not built to stand out, we’re built to fit in to the tribe.
When the rest of the tribe are riding bikes and hiring boards we feel inadequate. However whilst they’re busy with all that we’re free to do something different.
Doing things differently is where the real magic happens.
What else?
This week I had the pleasure of being a guest on Taino Benz’s new podcast. Have a listen here:
Another killer post!