The Lemon Tree Mindset

How much of your business is driven by intuition vs logic and strategy? In my case, itā€™s a mix. It depends on the seasonality, too, but I never ignore my intuition, and when Iā€™m lost or confused, I cancel the noise and listen to that inner voice that always seems to point me in the right direction. And since early 2026, I have felt an urge to pivot. It wasnā€™t one thing or one particular event, but little moments and signals that showed me a different path.

73% of creators quit in their first year. 90% of startups never make it. Nearly half of all Substacks become inactive (45%). People say the hardest thing is to start. I would argue that it is to keep going long after the motivation is gone, when the room is silent and no one is watching.

If you want to be an author, join book clubs and literary festivals. If you want to be a public speaker, join Toastmasters, speaker networks (or join my next Public Speaking Bootcamp 😉) If you want to run faster, join a run club and a community of runners. One of the biggest hacks I know for growing and improving faster across anything in business and in life is to surround yourself with people who are chasing your same goals.

Take a moment before reading today’s newsletter and think about the past 365 days and how much effort it has taken you to get to where you are today. Close your eyes and think about the journey. Go back to where you were a year ago and do a mental hike: the articles you’ve written (and how many you’ve thrown in the bin); the hours you’ve spent rehearsing before presenting a workshop or going live, the rejections before landing the sweet deal and the walls you hit along the way.

My nervous system doesn’t do well with hardcore sales, aggressive campaigns, and superficial networking. It honestly feels draining and for years, I have carried this internal conflict between what I’m expected to do and what I actually want to do. Outside pressure vs inner alignment.

Many entrepreneurs have a romantic vision of their business: they believe the best products come from pure inspiration and chase big ideas and innovative projects, like Christopher Columbus in search of exotic lands. The reality of business is much less sexy. The products (or services) that actually work are incubated right in front of you every single day: they are the obstacles you face daily, the inefficiencies in your routine, the stone you keep tripping over again and again.

When Apple offered me a job as a Business Manager in 2012, half of me felt like an Olympian. It was my dream job: the coolest company in the world, an amazing package, and a challenge: to expand the iconic brand into a booming market (Hong Kong). But the other half of me felt like an imposter. Iā€™ve never been a ā€œtech person,ā€ and I donā€™t say this lightly.

This month, I did the opposite of what everybody tells you to do: I wrote less. I wanted to give myself the luxury of time to be more strategic and intentional. In the past few months, I’ve noticed two trends in the digital world that go in totally opposite directions, like 2 high-speed bullet trains that are about to collide: On the one hand, digital fatigue is real. People are tired of emails, scrolling and being addicted to their screens. That’s why digital detox is a thing.

Digital Strategies šŸ’” šŸ“Last days of the early bird offer for my new course The Anti-Procrastinator: mental gym to get unstuck and build habits that stick. 64US$++ only instead of 128 US$++ until 31 May. I want 50% OFF āœØ To be super honest, I didnā€™t start posting on LinkedIn to ā€œbuild a businessā€, ā€œinvest in my personal brand,ā€ or become ā€œthe next thought leader.ā€ I wanted a damn job.

Playback speed × Share post Share post at current time Share from 0:00 0:00 / Transcript Why you keep getting stuck: The Chain of Reaction The most successful people I know, whether they’re writers, athletes, or entrepreneurs, have one thing in common: they fail forward. They take action, fail fast, adjust, and try again. They make it happen first and perfect it later. Yet most of us get stuck in the toxic cycle of procrastination.