By Lenny Rachitsky · lennysnewsletter.com · @lennysan on X · YouTube · LinkedIn
This guest post by Michelle Rial, shared by Lenny Rachitsky, offers a humorous visual pep talk for anyone stuck in a creative slump. Structured as twelve short charts, it argues that fear of embarrassment, chasing algorithms, and overthinking are the main blockers to making work. Its practical advice is to start without perfect conditions, keep going, accept that you can't control reception, and treat failed ideas and old drafts as material for future progress. The piece matters for product managers and builders because the same blockers (fear of judgment, optimizing for metrics over meaning, and paralysis before starting) show up constantly in product work.
01Key takeaways
- Expect embarrassment as part of shipping work, and keep returning after breaks rather than quitting.
- Make work that you find funny or moving instead of tuning everything to shifting platform algorithms.
- Protect your sharpest focus for the hard, creative problems rather than routine messages.
- Start working without perfect conditions and restart whenever you get distracted.
- Revisit your old drafts and rejected ideas; they often contain more progress than you remember.
- Share your work as widely as you can tolerate, then accept that you cannot control how it is received.
02Key sections
- Embarrassment and persistence
- Fear of looking foolish makes people quit, but the people who succeed keep returning after pauses. Audiences remember the wins, not the failed attempts.
- Algorithms and focus
- Creating for platform algorithms is unstable, so making work that genuinely delights you is more durable. Energy should also be protected from low-value tasks like routine email.
- Overwhelm and getting started
- Blank pages and overload cause paralysis, which breathwork can ease. The advice is to stop planning and start working, restarting whenever distracted.
- Reception, failure and progress
- You can't control how work is received, so share it and move on. Failed ideas are kept in a pile to be revisited, and existing drafts often show more progress than you expect.
- Starting late
- It is never too late or too early to begin something new, and beginners often discover unexpected strengths and enjoyment.
03From the post
“I’m so, so excited to share a guest post by Michelle Rial, my wife! Her first children’s book, Charts for Babies, comes out TODAY, and we thought: what better way to celebrate than collaborating on a post? Below, you get a glimpse into her brilliant mind. This visual guide is both inspiring and useful, and is for anyone trying to create something. Read it right now or bookmark it for the next time you get stuck. Are you feeling what I’m feeling? Blink twice with your heavy human eyelids if you are starting to feel like there is no point to creating things anymore. That if robots can do the creative work we spend hours, days, months, or years pulling our hair out over, why should we even try? Or maybe you’re just in a regular creative drought. The paralysis of worrying that your work isn’t worth doing anymore or that someone (or something) is already doing it better. Well, it’s time to lift yourself by your Blundstone loops and climb right out of that rut. I’ve made you a…”
Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.