Welcome back, Jack here.
I've spent years exploring retreats and monasteries around the world. This newsletter shares my journey to help more people do the same.
This week I was supposed to write about meeting the monastics in Nepal.
I ended up writing it, but didn’t post. The piece was pretty good, but something didn’t feel right.
Pure Intentions
When I launched this newsletter, my intention was pretty simple: connect more people to the best monasteries around the world and build a community to practice with.
Since sending out that first email, a few questions popped up in my head: Can this make money? How can I get traction with this? Will I need to get a job again?
Pure intentions vs making a living.
These two voices have been in constant dialogue in my head ever since. And I am now trying to figure out how they can coexist.
Unlearning Startup Fundamentals
I learnt a lot working in startups.
What I was best at was: taking a big goal and aligning a team to go after it. And that is what I ended up doing for this. I set my goal, some KPIs, and told a compelling story that connected it all together.
When you do this at a company, you are often already so separated from the mission, that this goal gives you a big step up in motivation. But in this case, it had the opposite effect.
I rushed towards my retreat goal as if it was a revenue target. I sent out cold emails to meditation teachers like I was an outbound sales rep. In essence, I made moves that didn’t feel right, in order to serve a goal that I had literally manufactured for myself 😂.
Move fast and break things does not work here, especially if you are running mindful walking events.
A New Strategy
So, I’ve decided to make some changes:
KPIs: No more tracking KPIs weekly - I don’t want the pursuit of X newsletter subscribers to get in the way of actually helping one person in real life.
Writing: I’m going to write what I feel like writing about on the day, not what will serve some greater goal.
Mission > Goals: Instead of working towards measurable goals, I will keep my broad mission in mind, and from that place decide on what to work on.
I’ll probably change my mind again in another couple weeks… but this feels right for now. My hope is that it leads to better writing, and working on the right things.
So yeah, I don’t know when I’ll post part 2 of the Nepal Hike, but it’ll come out one day.
I feel incredibly privileged to be able to work on something that I'm passionate about. It's not lost on me that I’m the first generation in my family to have this opportunity.
As for money, I have months before I need to truly worry about it. But my bet is that growing my expertise in line with my passions will set me up to solve that problem later down the line.
And with that: another week, another newsletter.
Retreats & Events
If you got this far, I love you.
See you next week!
Jack
P.S. Our first hiking meditation event was amazing! Special shout out to Athi, Ronja and Amanthi for joining me. I’ll post more about this soon.