Honor your flow state
Lately I’ve had a lot of conversations with people asking about getting started on Substack. They want to know how I find the time to write, how I get inspired, and how I’ve kept this up for years now. Here’s my spiel:
I’ve been doing this for a long time
My unfair advantage is that I’ve been writing on the internet for years.
When I studied abroad over fifteen years ago, I had a blog called To F’Italy and Beyond1. It was cheeky and perfect and provided a simple way to document everything I was doing, learning, seeing, and discovering. Years later, when I moved to NYC, I found a group of friends to write a newsletter with called The Lunch Read2. It was one of the joys of my early twenties: a weekly newsletter with 9 other friends, all of us underlings, finding our footing and needing something to anchor onto.
And about three years ago, when I started my coaching journey, I started this Substack, Product Therapy, as a way to show, not tell, people how I think about product management.
So yeah. This has been in my blood for a long time.
I actually enjoy it
Spoiler: in order to maintain any practice, you really have to love it.
My relationship with writing has always ebbed and flowed between love and, sometimes, obligation. But at the core, I love to write on the internet:
The thrill of hitting publish.
The joy of someone connecting with something you wrote.
The horror at the mistakes and dated opinions.
It’s all messy and vulnerable and raw.
It’s a form of expression that’s truly for me and hopefully one that others delight in.
Honor your flow state
This last one is maybe the most applicable, and it goes for any practice really.
It’s also the hardest, because often we can’t control our flow state.
I’m really feeling that lack of control right now, because I have been out of my writing flow state for months. I’m privately beating myself up for not being able to squeeze out an essay in between my monthly emails. But the reality is that my flow state is completely disrupted as I enter my ninth month of pregnancy.
So here’s my rule of thumb: honor when you want to be here, and honor when you don’t. When the inspiration strikes, move on it. When it doesn’t, don’t force it.3
Speaking of flow states
Like I said, I’ve been out of my regular flow for a while now.
I aspire to keep writing when I have something to say over the next couple of months, while I’m out on maternity leave.
And yep, I’m one month out from my due date. I’m excited/terrified to see what’s on the other side. Creatively, emotionally, psychologically. I hope that in some way I can bring you all along for the journey, in a way that feels authentic to why I started Product Therapy in the first place.
And if you don’t hear from me for a while, you’ll know where I went, thank you for being here, and consider yourself warned.
Culture Clicks
📚 You Won’t Get Free Of It was the last ‘book’ I’ve been able to read - it was stoic and dark and raw and interesting - about complicated mother/daughter relationships. I purchased The Disappearers after seeing rave reviews and I’m hoping that one day I’ll be able to read novels again … soon … one day.
🍭 I’ve only wanted sweet and sugar during the final weeks of this pregnancy and my signature pb&j breakfast bowl4 has gotten an upgrade with homemade granola (i’ve made triple batches 3x). Outside of that, im scooping up croissants from my favorite bakery - for breads and sweets - and maple donuts from Daily Provisions.
🥯 The best gift for new parents is….. FOOD. I’ve been gifting NYC bagels left and right - from Zabar’s5 and Ess-a-Bagel. But classic NYC care packages like Katz’s and Bread’s work too. Also Spoonful of Comfort always hits.
📺 I searched long and hard and finally found my comfort show that will hopefully carry me through long evenings post partum. My hope is that 22 seasons of glorious, gory, cheesy early aughts Grey’s Anatomy will bring me familiarity, coziness and perspective. I’m already locked in and reinvested. When you’re up with insomnia there’s nothing better than watching someone getting a bomb removed from their body to calm you down.
Substack clicks
I’m Jori Bell, VP of Core at Hampton and a coach for Product Leaders. Learn more about my coaching practice here.
Any former readers?!
Former readers gimme a shout!
Note this is as much advice for me right now than it is for you :-)
Mix yogurt (fage) with a spoonful of peanut butter and jelly, topped with blueberries, roasted peanuts and a dusting of homemade granola. squirt honey on top if its still not sweet enough.
Zabar’s is a block from my doctor and so its a post appointment ritual now picking up lunch or dinner. I have trouble leaving the place without spending under $100.
Thank you for writing this piece, and nudging us to write more! I wish you the best with getting to the “other side”!