What I Learned From 52 Weekly Newsletters

Last weeks letter was my 53rd issue and marked 52 weeks of sending a newsletter each Sunday.

When I first started, I didn’t know what I wanted this to be.

I didn’t know what format made sense, but I knew I wanted a medium where I could share things I was learning and found interesting.

There’s 4 lessons I’ve learned from this experience.

Start Before You Feel Ready

This one is probably the most important.

If there’s something you’ve been wanting to do, the only answer is to start now.

If you wait until you feel ready, you’ll never start.

The only way to improve at something is to get experience, and you get experience by doing the thing.

Consistency Beats Everything

In the beginning, consistency makes everything easier.

It removes the guesswork of when you should act.

Growing any sort of audience requires a significant amount of time and the only “cheat code” for it is to show up at the same time on a regular basis.

What made it easier to show up each week was I set Sunday morning as the time I’d send out this newsletter.

I know for me that if I commit to doing something only when I feel like it, it won’t get done.

Almost every Sunday over the last year has looked the same - I wake up, make a cup of coffee, and start writing whatever I want to share from the week.

Discipline over Motivation

Most weeks I don’t know what to write and lack the motivation to send anything at all.

In the moment it feels bad but the satisfaction of hitting send after an hour or so of effort is hard to beat.

I’ve never regretted writing a newsletter, and for me it’s an easy win to start the week off with.

Remember Why You Started

This is the most recent lesson I’ve learned.

Now that I’ve found the workflow that works best for me, it’s easy just to work for work’s sake without remembering why I’m doing it.

I started this newsletter simply to share things I found interesting.

With YouTube, I started because I love tech and wanted to share my thoughts about products I was trying.

New Tech I’m Excited About

I pre-ordered the iPhone 16 Pro Max on Friday and while I’ve loved the S24 Ultra, I’m looking forward to using iOS again for a bit.

It’s a small update this year but I can’t wait to try the Camera Control button.

The PS5 Pro was just announced this week and I’m still shocked about the price. I’m thinking of pre-ordering one to make a video on as I’m interested to see if the quality difference is noticeable in person.

Though if the promise they’re making of not having to sacrifice frame rate for quality is true, I’m excited. This is definitely a GTA VI machine.

Things I’ve found interesting

links to valuable stuff I thought was worth sharing

Deadlock - I heard about this game earlier in the week and have been wanting to try it out. I was able to get an invite and while I’m god awful at it, it’s a ton of fun. If you haven’t been able to, I set up a page on my website where you can give me your Steam friend code and I’ll send you an invite.

Killer Frequency - I randomly found this game while browsing steam yesterday and it is super unique. You play as a radio show host taking place as a 911 operator and the gameplay is a ton of fun.

DevDuck - This is quickly becoming one of my favorite YouTube channels. It’s a guy Ben who’s building an RPG as a hobby project and documenting the progress.

A Sales & Marketing Coaching Session with Russell Brunson - I’ve listened to all of Russel’s “secret” books and enjoyed them. He had a conversation with Ali Abdaal that was really interesting to listen to.

Have a great week.

Cole

P.S. If you found this letter helpful, please consider sharing it with a friend :)