Hi,

Something small happened this week that I wanted to share.

A few of you have been replying to these emails — about guilt you're still carrying, about family and work leaving nothing left for yourselves, about just being glad to hear from me again. I read every one. I haven't said this enough, but thank you.

It got me thinking about something I don't talk about much: the difference between feeling confident and acting confident.

Most people assume they need to feel sure of themselves before they can act like it. So they wait. They wait to feel ready before applying for the job, starting the conversation, setting the boundary.

But confidence doesn't really work like that. It's closer to a habit than a feeling. You don't wait until you feel like a runner to go for a run. You go for the run, badly at first, and the identity catches up later.

The acting comes first. The feeling follows behind it, usually slower than you'd like.

This matters because if you're waiting to feel confident before you do the thing, you might be waiting a long time. The people who seem naturally confident aren't ahead of you in some innate way — they've just done more reps of acting before feeling ready.

So here's a small thing to try this week: pick one thing you've been waiting to feel ready for. Do a small version of it before you feel ready. Notice what happens afterward, not before.

That's it. No link, no ask. Just something I wanted to pass on.

More soon.

Karl