a permission slip
Article No. 78: entering a category of one
Hello dearest humans, T.G.I.F. amirightttt?!
Off to Lancaster for the weekend to celebrate Miss Wiz’s graduation from F&M. Color me emotionallll, when did we all start growing up?! So very proud of her, though, and excited to spend the weekend with family. All that’s between me and that very weekend is a cheeky 5:51am Amtrak to Lancaster which I will surely have a panic dream about missing tonight. If you’re reading this prior to 8:30am, I solemnly hope it’s whilst I am “resting my eyes” or dramatically journaling on the train.
Every now and then, I find that I am waiting for permission to live honestly and unafraid. I’ll wager I am not the only one. Earlier this week, before my very first session with a coach I’ve started to work with, I began listening to a To be Magnetic podcast episode with Courtney Johnson: How to Overcome Fear & Show Up Authentically in Any Space with Courtney Johnson. The episode is fantastic and empowering, brimming over with nuggets of wisdom that I jotted into my journal. One tidbit stopped me in my tracks — Johnson was talking about how rather than trying to be in the top 1% in one niche, we can try to be in the top 10% at 3 or 4 things. She went on further, describing how by being our authentic selves — demonstrating our unique combinations of passions and honing in on our authentic code — we can enter a category of one.
I might not be the best writer in the world. I might never be. But, maybe, I can find myself in the unique zone where my passions for science & wellness, consumer goods and trends, self-improvement & spirituality/religion, and finance blend. And, right there, my friends, is where I can find my category of one. That space where no one could ever best me, because it’s frankly an odd combo born out of the sheer necessity of passions organic to me. I see my friend Sammy, who has just begun sharing about his journey working at UTA and in the talent industry. I’m not sure if he can even recognize it about himself just yet, but I am so excited, because, immediately, I can see he’s in his zone of genius, his category of one. I just saw my friend Natalie is taking on a 25 day challenge to go viral with her single-serve salad dressing company, LAV. Hadley is another amazing example of this, I loved her most recent Goodies Digest. Another dear friend, Jason, has taken his love of popular culture, and is absolutely crushing it — succeeding by being his authentic self, riffing on a series he organically created to bring his chronically offline friend(s) up to speed.
Emily Sundberg of Feed Me (now we’re just naming everyone I admire, it appears) included a line in one of her newsletters — “you cannot compete with people who are having more fun with you.”
All of these friends are existing in their category of one — their success is nothing for any of us to compete with or compare ourselves to. It’s actually a wonderful permission slip: you already exist in a category of one. There’s one you. By just being your authentic self, and, heaven forbid!!! having a little fun while you’re at it, you can start being seen and attracting people, viewers, opportunities, and more into your life.
It’s felt more comfortable for me to help amplify others’ brands in the past, or to look to work and offer ideas to them, rather than pursuing the notion that I might like to work on my own personal brand. There’s nothing wrong with sharing ideas and looking to support others, and, it just might be another pesky form of procrastination to not do that very thing for myself.
So this is my permission slip as much as it’s yours: let’s step into our categories of one. The spaces only we can fill. The lives we were created to live.
I loved this article by Alexis Barber, which ties right into this idea of trusting that the mix of passions we possess is not a failure of focus, but a superpower waiting to be claimed. Quote below:
Your range is not a branding problem.
Smart women especially get told they’re “all over the place” because they care about the career stuff and the culture stuff and whatever other chaotic content is living in your saved folder. Then someone at a marketing conference convinced us we needed to pick a niche and shrink ourselves into it.…
The contradiction is the texture that makes someone feel like a real woman with a worldview instead of a content category. The paradox is the personality…
What you actually need to find is the values through-line underneath all of it. The reason you care about the things you care about, and the lens that connects them. Once you have that, the platforms and pillars and posting schedules stop feeling like a puzzle. They become expressions of one clear point of view.
Your through-line is already there. You just haven’t named it yet.
And instead of finding or naming my through-line… I’m going to live into it for a bit. Leaning into the flow of where my attention feels called, what articles I’m excited to open, what news I’m attuned to — these are the indicators. The dots are far easier to connect looking back…
Now you have your permission, as do I, what do you say we make a little magic, eh?!
Ciaooooo,
Fi
