Welcome to Issue 108 of Clearly YOU. Not a subscriber? Let's fix that: https://kimscaravelli.com/newsletter/β
π€ What happens when, instead of reacting to everything happening around you, you just... don't?
I've been thinking about this a lot lately. The world of marketing, search, and business is moving at a pace that feels less like evolution and more like a fire drill. Everyone is pivoting, adapting, reinventing.
I get it. The speed at which AI is coming at us is like a hurricane wrapped up in a blizzard. It demands our attention.
But I'm from the east coast of Canada. We get both hurricanes and blizzards. And what I know is that throwing yourself into the middle of the storm, especially when you're somewhat unprepared, isn't helpful. It's just panic wearing a productivity costume.
I've always prided myself on resilience. Pushing through. Keeping going. But there's a difference between resilience and reflex. One is intentional. The other is just... motion.
So I'm running an experiment.
I've already slowed down on social. Now, I'm going to intentionally take a break from producing this bi-weekly newsletter. Clearly YOU is pressing pause until September 2nd. No issues in July or August.
And instead of framing that as a break, I want to frame it as a test.
An experiment into what happens - and what doesn't happen - in 2026, when you step back from the noise and focus 100% on your clients. The people right in front of you who already use your services and appreciate your value. Real human beings.
My hope is that these two months will allow me to find out more about my strengths and challenges. I'll ask more questions and pay deeper attention to the answers. And, fingers crossed, I'll hit September with more knowledge of what's really working for me and what was just noise.
I'll also collect data on what gets lost when you take a break like this. Will my social accounts plummet in popularity? Or will they keep chugging along?
Will my newsletter subscribers abandon me? Or will you all enjoy your summer, barely notice my absence, and maybe smile when I pop up in your inbox again on September 2nd?
Ironically, to find out how it goes, you'll need to hang in there. π
Most importantly... Will new clients keep finding me? Or will business dry up like an unwatered plant?
Because we do all this stuff to keep ourselves front of mind - to build authority and keep business rolling in. But I'm starting to suspect that all the time and effort may be distracting us from those real life connections that generate income.
Just a hypothesis. Curious to see how it works out.
Cool Quote
"Ponder and deliberate before you make your move."
Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Pause-able Things
If you can't pause anything, stay the course. Your professional space is your own and you understand it better than I do.
But if it feels like you're on a hamster wheel of endlessly "communicating" without reliably getting tangible results, maybe pausing is a worthwhile experiment for you too.
In many lines of work, summer runs a bit slower. People take holidays and longer-than-normal weekends. Decision-makers go quiet until autumn. It's sort of how things work.
So take a minute and think of 2-3 things you do every week that might be pause-able. Just a couple.
Write them on Post-Its and leave them on your desk tonight.
Tomorrow morning, look at them again. If they still feel pause-able... maybe try an experiment.
Not ditching anything. Just pausing.
Giving your schedule more breathing room. Letting your mind settle on the parts of your work that actually matter. Paying more attention to the things that aren't pause-able.
AI will still be upending our lives in September. But maybe by then you'll have more creative ideas on how to thrive - not just survive.
For the Word Nerds
Experiment comes from the Latin experiri - "to try, to test, to put to the proof."
π©· But here's the part I love:
Experiment and experience share the exact same Latin root. In every language derived from Latin (including French, Spanish, and Italian) the word for "experiment" and the word for "experience" are the same word.
English split them apart. But the original idea was one and the same: you gain knowledge by going through something.
Which means my summer of pausing isn't about stopping. It's about collecting data, opening myself to new perspectives, and expanding my knowledge!
Thanks for reading.
I deeply appreciate you letting me pop into your inbox every couple of weeks. And I hope to see you in September.
π Enjoy your summer.
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