Hey friends,

I was supposed to send this email yesterday, but I didn't. I didn't want to share how I failed to meet the expectations I set to myself. Last week I started my 12-in-12 challenge, and this weekend I was supposed to have my product ready for a soft launch, but I haven't. Although I had a lovely weekend with my girlfriend and her family, I still felt guilty for not making progress with my project.

Last night when I sat down to write this email, I was mad at myself and ashamed to share my "failure." And at a moment of doubt, I shut down my laptop and went to sleep. But this morning, I had a second thought: This way of thinking is why social media like Instagram is terrible for your mental health. It's often misrepresenting reality to paint a sexy, exciting, and adventurous picture. It's associated with high levels of anxiety, depression, bullying, and FOMO.

If I'm going only to share the successes in my journey, then I'm no better than Instagram and its fake filters. If I want to stay true to myself, I have to share the bad before the good. So here I am, a day late to my newsletter, sharing a down moment, reminding you and myself that it's okay to fail, and it's better to be open about it. This sh*t is hard; building a business and staying consistent with all the distractions around us is not easy! Success is not the rule; it's the exception, and to get to success, we must make peace with failure first.​

My challenge is still on, and today I'm going to pick up where I left off and get the app ready for launch next Monday as was initially planned. Wish me luck!

Have a wonderful week

Jamal

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