Let’s start the weekly receipts – issue 10, by my favorite quote: “An unexamined life is not worth living..”
Kill Your Darlings
The truth is simple: you are allowed to quit anything that no longer serves you.
In On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, Stephen King writes, “Kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart.” In writing, “darlings” are the words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs, or even chapters we feel most attached to. They may be the parts we are proudest of, but if they do not serve the reader, they have to go.
That idea applies beyond writing. In business, life, and even at home, we often hold on to things simply because we like them, because we are used to doing them, or because they feel meaningful to us. But if they do not support our goals, they may be taking more from us than they give.
What I Realized About My YouTube Posts
For more than two months, I had been writing a post every Monday for my YouTube channel. Nobody was really reading it, but I kept doing it anyway—and I felt so much pressure every week.
When Monday came and I had not planned anything, I would start scrambling. I would search everywhere, trying to find something meaningful to share. It became stressful, and I kept putting energy into something that was not producing results.
Recently, I spoke with a friend who understands YouTube better than I do. I asked him whether those posts really made sense. His answer was so obvious that I was surprised I had not thought of it before: “You have your YouTube analytics. You can see if it is making an impact.”
Looking at What Actually Matters
The truth is that I did not even need to check the analytics to know the answer. The posts were not helping me grow. They were not bringing in subscribers. People were not reading them. And yet I was spending one, two, or even three hours every week writing something that did not support my bigger goal.
At the end of the day, YouTube is mainly a video platform. Written posts, shared updates, and code-style posts are newer features, but that does not mean they are essential for everyone. For me, they were not aligned with my goal. They were not helping me financially. They were not moving my business forward.
What I Am Letting Go
That conversation helped something click for me: I do not need to keep doing something just because I started it, or because I like the idea of it. If it does not contribute to the goal, it may be time to let it go.
So now, I am choosing to focus on what matters most:
- One quality YouTube video each week.
- One or two Shorts each week, without unnecessary pressure.
- No extra commitment to weekly written posts unless they clearly serve a purpose.
My goal is to increase my income so I can invest more heavily. I have plans to buy land and move into real estate, and that requires focus, time, and money. I cannot afford to keep spending energy on tasks that do not support that direction.
The Bigger Lesson
This is the lesson I want to share: we need to let go of the things we do that no longer make sense. Some tasks may feel familiar, meaningful, or even enjoyable, but if they do not align with our goals, they can become unnecessary pressure.
Not everything needs to be shared. Not everything needs to be done for business. Not everything needs to continue simply because it has always been done.
Even at home, there may be routines you keep because your parents did them, because you have done them for years, or because you feel guilty stopping. But if they are not meaningful and they are not serving you, you are allowed to stop.
So, this is my biggest weekly reminder: kill your darlings. Let go of the things that no longer serve your goals, your business, your peace, or your future—whatever those “darlings” may be.
Salima
Just me thinking out loud over here