Hi Reader,

What's making it hard for you? You can replace "it" by any action item you're procrastinating. My current most procrastinated item is business development. The deck is almost ready, ready enough to be sent and still I am not doing it.

A colleague asked me the obvious question last week: Why not?

Funny enough, it suddenly felt uncomfortably obvious. And for once it wasn't any of the reasons I'd run to a therapist or coach for: No childhood wound or mommy issues, no fear of rejection or fear of success. A part of me wishes any of these would be true. It would give me a real excuse.

What actually holds up is the fact that I've not trained for it. Looking back on my career, I have never once gotten a job I applied for, every position I've held was created for me or offered to me. I have never won a client through a cold pitch either. Either they found me because someone recommended me or had already seen the work and trusted it before we spoke.

So what holds me back from engaging in business development and seeking sales conversations is similar to what may hold me back from signing up to a choir: Not knowing what to do while being surrounded by people who assume I did.

So now I know that it's not the fact that "I suck as sales" but that I lack the experience. And while it's still as difficult, I now have the clarity that I just need to get the reps in: repeating and growing this muscle until it becomes second nature as all the other things I've learned doing over the years.

No therapy needed for this one. Just repetition I haven't put in yet.

🎤 Waiting for you on the Unprofessionalism podcast:

I think my podcast needs a trigger warning ⚠️

It occurred to me while recording this week’s solo episode. Guests on Unprofessionalism have cursed, talked about drugs, shown up to work in drag and offered their boss the informal you. And I caught myself thinking, more than once:

But you cannot say that on a podcast!

Wasn’t it me who had invited them? Asked the question? And still, there was this voice.

I don't think I'm the only one who hears it.

We're quick to dismiss ways of working that make us uncomfortable. I know I am. But what I learned from the podcast is that the discomfort itself is worth a second look. Sometimes it protects a value we truly hold. And sometimes it just repeats a rule we inherited and never chose — and then it's less a warning and more an invitation.

Each guest took a professional risk that others might have talked them out of. In most cases, they got away with it just fine. Some were even better off because of it.

Could it be that we over-estimate what it costs to break a rule in order to be more ourselves?

This solo episode is my attempt to make sense of this discomfort — mine included. Where it comes from, and what we could do with it instead of dismissing it.

I’m curious what you’ll think:

🎧 Click here to listen to the interview

📥 Download my 1-page summary

​UP_027_Summary.pdf​

That's it from my side. I hope to see you next week!

Myriam