Three ideas about knowing yourself better

🌱 HEALTHY

Find Your Stress Anchors

Your routine gets wrecked. New city, different schedule, unexpected chaos. The rigid morning routine you swore by? Suddenly impossible.

That's where stress anchors come in. These are your reliable touchpoints throughout the day. Moments that ground you no matter what's happening around you.

For me, it's three things. Morning mobility work, usually around 6:30 am. Gym session around 11 after I've done some work. Evening massage and stretching before bed. These aren't strict rules I beat myself up over. They're flexible anchors that adapt to where I am.

Hotel room with no space? The mobility work becomes five minutes of basic stretches. No gym access? Bodyweight exercises or a long walk. The specific activity matters less than having that consistent moment to switch off and reset.

When I'm stressed, physical movement works. That's my thing. For you, it might be completely different.

Maybe it's journaling with your coffee. A quick meditation between meetings. Calling someone you care about.

The anchor isn't about the activity itself.

It's about having reliable moments that travel with you. Things that work whether you're in your usual setup or dealing with whatever comes up.

Takeaway: Think about what already helps you reset when life gets messy. Those moments can become your anchors. If you don't have any yet, experiment. Find what actually works for you, not what you think should work.

🪙 WEALTHY

Stop Being Everything to Everyone

"I manage Google Ads for local restaurants" stands out way more than "I do digital marketing."

Seems obvious when you put it like that. But most freelancers and remote workers still try to be everything to everyone. They think casting a wider net means more work.

I've watched friends struggle with this. The ones doing generic "marketing consulting" or "business coaching" are constantly competing on price. Fighting for scraps with a million other people saying the exact same thing.

Then I see others who got specific. One friend only does email marketing for SaaS companies. Another builds landing pages for course creators. They charge more, work less, and clients actually seek them out.

The business leaders at conferences I've been to hammer this point home. Specialization isn't limiting. It's profitable.

Here's why it works:

When someone needs exactly what you do, they remember you. If a local restaurant needs to get more customers through the door, they're not going to remember "the digital marketing person." They'll remember "the Google Ads guy." You become the obvious choice instead of just another option.

You can also charge what you're worth. Specialists don't compete on price because they're not competing with generalists anymore. You're solving a specific problem for specific people. That's worth paying for.

Takeaway: Look at how you describe what you do. If it sounds like something a hundred other people could say, get more specific. Who exactly do you help? What exact problem do you solve? Start there.

📚 AND WISE

What Advice Do You Give Others but Never Follow Yourself?

Who's guilty of serving up advice and then doing the complete opposite when it comes to you? 🙋‍♂️

I tell people to take breaks when they're burnt out. Then work through my own exhaustion.

I suggest friends dial in on their main business and focus on what works. Meanwhile, I have shiny object syndrome and can't resist starting new ideas or projects.

We're all walking contradictions. The advice we give others often reveals what we know we should be doing but aren't.

And it's not just business stuff. This shows up in our personal lives too.

For most of us it's easier to see solutions when you're not emotionally invested in the problem. Or maybe we hold ourselves to different standards than we hold everyone else.

Either way, it's worth asking yourself this question once in a while. Not to beat yourself up about it. Just to notice the gap between what you know and what you do.

Takeaway: The advice you give others might be exactly what you need to hear yourself.