The Weekly Forge #139
"Life's most persistent and urgent question is: 'What are you doing for others?"
Dr. Martin Luther King
This newsletter is going to be three years old in a few weeks.
I remember sending out my first issues wondering where this was all going. And to be honest that feeling persisted for many months afterwards. And that was because in the initial stages, the “Weekly Check-In” as it was called then was just that. Me sending out an email to friends and family about my fledgling online writing journey.
Three years later a lot has changed and strangely enough, the biggest change is just around the corner.
Because tied to this weekly email was my blog that I started at the same time. Both are very personal, both very self-centred. And that was right for the time. I was looking inward a lot during 2021 and this outlet helped me clarify my thinking.
But then things started to slowly change in 2022 and even more so in 2023.
The more I shared about my learnings on this crazy journey as a husband, dad of 6, CEO and adventure athlete, the more I had people ask for help with their journey balancing home, work and personal pursuits.
And although I have certainly not figured it all out, there are plenty of people who I can be of more service to.
Part of that push is getting my little book out, which outlines my philosophy around forging your best self as a dad (it is not exclusive to dads, but that’s the experience I can speak from):
The book will be out shortly, but linked with the book release I am also working on a website redesign and a change to this newsletter.
I started out on a platform called Convertkit and then moved over here to Substack. The hope was to fuel the growth of this newsletter and benefit from the network effect Substack offers.
However, although more people are reading it now, fewer people do so regularly. And this isn’t a numbers game. I am not interested in growing this to 10k subscribers and it just being another email people read sometimes. I would rather have 1,000 dedicated readers whom I serve better.
This newsletter will be rebranded as “Forging Balance Weekly” in line with the website and it will be delivered again through Convertkit shortly. (But no worries there’s nothing you need to do from your end).
I would like to thank you for being here and my goal is for this to evolve into a more valuable resource for you issue by issue.
Like this newsletter, my fitness pursuit has also evolved over time, which I captured in this short video here:
This Week’s Video of Scotland
(From tonight’s Burns supper. The first time I did it, I was stressed out, now years later, cooking a meal for 40 is actually enjoyable)
And if you’d like help putting systems in place to help you achieve your personal goals amidst the competing demands of work and family life, please get in touch here.