Welcome! I’m Dr. Jillian Bybee, a physician leader and coach looking to create more fulfillment for myself and others. Humans Leading is for busy, growth-oriented humans who are looking for strategies to have more joy and less overwhelm in their lives. Subscribe here to get this newsletter straight in your inbox:
Today (April 2nd) marks my one-year anniversary on Substack! As someone who never considered myself a writer (and who had completely disconnected from creativity during the process of becoming a physician), the fact that I’m still here writing to you is a bit mind-boggling in the best of ways.
Today’s post highlights what I’ve learned and where I hope to go in the next year. And it concludes with a little thank-you gift for all of you who are on this journey with me.
Before diving into the lessons learned, I want to say thank you to the 150+ people who choose to get this newsletter sent to your inboxes each week and the 200+ people who read each post. You are the reason I keep coming back to share. I love your growth-orientation and your caring hearts. I see your desire to create more joyful, less chaotic lives. You have everything you need to reach this goal, even if it doesn’t seem possible yet. You’re on the right path, and this newsletter can continue to help you find your way.
When I started this newsletter last year, I had zero people on my distribution list, so the fact that 60+ people signed up after the first post was AMAZING to me. It reinforced a few important things:
I have a lot of supportive people in my life who cheer me on when I start something new.
I have something to share that resonates with people.
This brings me to the first big lesson from this year.
1. Just start
I found my way to Substack in 2022 as writers I follow (especially
whose work I love) moved their work here. After lurking and reading for a while, I decided that I would start my own newsletter as a way to disseminate my content more widely than was possible via the workshops and lectures I had been giving. I announced that ‘Humans Leading’ was “coming soon” in December 2022.And then I didn’t do anything with it.
I told myself that it was the busyness of my work as a physician that kept me from starting. To some extent, this was true. The winter of 2022/23’ was the busiest winter my hospital had ever experienced. I found myself with little energy to give at the end of the day. But, as the workload eased up, I still found myself stuck in the mud.
The truth was that my perfectionism and inner critic were getting the best of me.
“Who would read your writing?” they asked.
This message had me stuck and, as the law of diminishing intent predicts, if you don’t do something quickly after you set a goal to do it, you’re unlikely to ever do it.
Fortunately, getting started on another project gave me the jumpstart to my creativity that I needed. The mentors I had for this project filled my head with another, louder message:
“Everyone has a message to share.”
The key to getting your message out is to start from where you are and to understand that you’ll have to crawl before you walk (or run). We don’t start out knowing everything, and perfection is impossible even as we gain more experience.
I had to let go of my ego and perfectionism and just get started in order to learn and improve.
If you’re feeling stuck right now, this post has some tips:
2. Learn your who and your why
Over the past year, I’ve written 40 posts!
I started writing to share my message and learned that writing was an incredibly effective way for me to clarify my thoughts and to better understand myself and the world around me.
I’ve also learned a lot about you as an audience.
You are hard-working, high-achieving people who are balancing multiple demands.
You are caregivers (and some of you have professional caretaking roles).
You experience stress, and you often prioritize yourself last.
You are resilient and growth-oriented.
You are getting tired of the “traditional” markers of success and want to define your own.
You are looking for a saner way to live your life and experience more joy.
You are not always sure where to start, and, at times, this leaves you stuck.
For those of you who have joined me in the past year, I think that this newsletter resonates with you because I have been in your shoes and have learned how to navigate life’s challenges through my own experience. I continue to experience challenges and am willing to share what I’ve learned (often the ‘hard way’).
The “why” for this newsletter is simple: I share my own experience and expertise in order to connect with and impact people like you.
Through this newsletter, readers learn practical skills and find inspiration to make their lives better, thereby finding more joy and less overwhelm.
If you’re trying to decide whether to take something on or not, this post would be helpful:
3. More complicated does not mean better
Another big lesson that I’ve learned is that short, simple posts often resonate more than longer posts (read: more people are likely to read and comment). I think this has a lot to do with who is reading this newsletter and why. Busy people are more likely to engage with content that doesn’t take a lot of time.
To make this newsletter even more valuable, I’ll be keeping this lesson in mind as I continue to write my ‘Reminder’ series:
I could make this post a lot longer, but I’ve decided to listen to lesson #3 and wrap it up. As promised, I’m closing with a small thank you gift to all of you who read Humans Leading: a PDF list of resources to help when you’re feeling overwhelmed. There are podcasts, posts, and books that I’ve found valuable (and some content that I’ve created myself).
I look forward to the year ahead and would love to hear what topics/content you’d find valuable. Feel free to drop a comment below or simply reply to the email if you read in your inbox.
Congrats on one year!! 🎉🎉 I’ve loved following along, you seem to hit the topics I need to hear at the exact time. You’ve also been an inspiration along the way. Thank you! 🫶 Cheers to many more!! Proud of you!
Congratulations my friend!! You are amazing and I enjoy reading your posts!! ❤️❤️