Hey there, how was your week?
I have something to celebrate.
The humble little “common sense” community crossed 50,000 Instagram followers last week. Along with that, ~14.5K on YouTube and 200+ on this newsletter.
That’s 65,000+ people in 8 months.
Not bad for something that almost didn’t happen.
Here’s the part you don’t see.
Before this, I started a few channels. Each time, I’d do the research, plan content, feel confident… and post about 10–11 videos.
Each video would get ~300–400 views.
And then I’d quit.
This time, I made one simple rule.
No outcome-based decisions until 150 videos.
150 videos in 150 days. That was the only goal.
I still looked at numbers — but only to improve content, not to decide whether to continue or stop.
That changed everything.
As a manager, I’m learning something similar.
You need to know when to optimize and when to quit. Continuing something that clearly doesn’t work is a mistake — but quitting too early is equally expensive.
To celebrate the milestone, I bought something I’ve been eyeing for a while.
A Lamy Safari fountain pen.
I’m a pen-and-paper person. Metro rides + podcasts + random notes on paper — that’s my system. Though recently, I’ve been writing less, and my pens have slowly turned into a collection.
But this one — a German design classic from the 1970s — I had to get.
I’ve never used it before. But I’ve watched way too many YouTube videos about it.
(You won’t get it unless you’re into this stuff.)
When it arrived, I decided to record an unboxing.
Only after filling the ink and writing a few lines did I notice something.
They sent me the wrong nib.
I ordered medium. They sent extra fine.
Too late.
Ins filled. First impressions done. Mild panic.
But here’s the interesting part.
The extra fine nib… was actually better.
It suited my writing perfectly. So much so that I didn’t even notice the difference until I checked the engraving.
Umbra pen with turquoise ink — looked beautiful.
I decided to keep it.
Made me think.
How many times have I avoided something just because I assumed it wouldn’t work for me?
How many things have I filtered out before even trying?
Trying to be a little more open now.
Less assumption. More experimentation.
See you next week 🙂