The Bear, Imposter Syndrome, and the Kindle Challenge
Plus, all things back to school and what are your podcasting questions?
The Short of It
Lately on the Podcast:
Lately on YouTube:
In This Email
A quick rundown so you can easily scroll to what you’re looking for-
What I’m Learning from The Bear- an essay on imposter syndrome
What are your podcasting questions?
I’m hosting a free Back to School Planning Webinar
Kindle Challenge Hacks
What I’m Learning from The Bear
Have you watched The Bear yet? I say “yet” because if you haven’t yet, you should! This show just released it’s second season a few weeks ago and dare I say it is even more masterful than the first, which was a feat! Incredible acting, amazing writing, and (as my filmmaker son keeps reminding me) the cinematics are iconic! It is set in Chicago and follows a Michelin Starred chef who comes back home to take over his brother’s dive sandwich joint. Chaos ensues! But also depth, and perseverance, and well, some of the most delicious looking food I’ve ever seen on TV.
Now, I’m going to try to not give away much in the way of spoilers, but if you want to hold out to watch the show and then come back and read this- I get it. But one of my favorite things about The Bear is the character development. Particularly in season 2, there is a character, Richie, who has been searching for his way for a long time- trying to figure out his identity and what he can be good at. Then, one day, he gets it. He sees importance in small things that he once saw as silly and dumb and he finds his niche.
And when he gets it he starts wearing a suit every day to work. His co-works keep asking him about it and every time he responds with, “I wear suits now.” It’s as simple as that. One day, he woke up and decided to change his life. So he did. He goes on to describe how the suits make him feel better about himself and how putting on a suit is like putting on armor. Richie figured out that putting on that suit made him feel more like himself than anything he’d ever worn and he unapologetically started showing up to his life in a big, bold way.
I want to be like Richie. I want to show up exactly how I know I’m at my best, doing what I know I’m good at and not care if people ask, “Why are you doing that?” I want my response to simply be, “I wear suits now.”
It can be anything. “I wear suits now,” can be “I keep my house clean now,” or “I work out now,” or very literally “I get fully dressed and ready every day now.” Maybe, it’s all of those things and more. The point is that we don’t have to apologize for showing up completely to our lives. If anything, we need to apologize for doing the opposite. I have far more regret in my life over the things I held off doing for fear of what other people would think, than over the things I jumped into and made happen regardless of opinion.
I personally know that I’ve been holding back for a long time. Petrified that if I showed up in the suit people would say, “Who does she think she is? Oh, so she’s just going to start wearing suits now, out of the blue?!”
And ya know what? There might be people who will say that. But I keep thinking about how every one of Richie’s co-works, when they asked him about the suit, and he told them that’s what he was doing now, responded with something along the lines of, “Oh, cool. It looks good on you.” In fact, it even encouraged other people to wear their suits and show up and do things that they felt unqualified for, all because of Richie’s encouragement and willingness to be exactly who he wanted to (and knew he could) be.
So, I wear metaphorical suits now. No more excuses. No more playing small. No more caring if people wonder why. At the end of the day, those doubting voices don’t matter anyway.
What suit have you been avoiding putting on? I’d love for you to talk about it in the comments of this post on substack and maybe we can all help each other get over the hurdle of just showing up in the suit.
What Are Your Podcasting Questions?
Inquiring minds want to know! Ok, but really, I am working on an upcoming podcast episode where I would love to answer some of your questions about podcasting. We are nearing season 9 of the podcast (which feels crazy!) and I am working on a little somethin’ somethin’ for those of you who have wondered about how the sausage gets made (and I’m happy to report that it’s a lot less gross and messy than making actual sausage).
So, would you do me a little favor and respond to this email with your questions that you’ve always wanted answered about podcasting? That would be absolutely golden!
FREE Back to School Webinar
The Back to School Supplies are out at Target- you know what that means! Back to school is going to be here before we know it and this year I want to help you be as prepared as possible for that hectic season to arrive. I have put together a free webinar to get you set for all the things!
Join me this Thursday at 10:00am PDT and we will get you on the right track!
Kindle Challenge Hacks
Alright, I’ve been throwing around a few of these hacks lately to make the Kindle Challenge easier, because maybe like me, you find the whole thing silly but are also obsessed with WINNING (in a competition in which you are only competing against yourself and there are no actual prizes 😬).
So, the first one is (especially when pressed for time) to download both the audiobook and the kindle book (I usually get them both from the library) and then just flip through to the end of the Kindle book when you are done with the audiobook and it COUNTS as you reading it on your Kindle! Boom! Brilliant!
My second hack is to make liberal use of short stories when trying to fulfill this quarters’ 1st and 2nd Mystery Challenges. The first Mystery Challenge is to read a book off of Prime Reading and I am happy to report that there are a plethora of short stories to choose from on their list. Then, of course, those books can also count toward the 2nd Mystery Challenge, which is to read 8 books before September 30. Typically, this isn’t a big problem for me, but I like to use these audiobook and short story hacks to offer me a little bit of breathing room to get this challenge completed.
Do you have any great Kindle Challenge hacks or favorite books? Be sure to share them in the comments!
Well, anyway… I think that about does it for this week! I’m off to go put on my suit! Talk soon,
MacKenzie
PS- Don’t be shy to chat with me on Instagram or Threads! I’d love to see you there!