Thoughts on the year, and the future
— 3 min read
Hey friends,
This newsletter’s going to be a bit raw, as I talk about some changes that I wasn’t exactly planning to take on so soon.
I’ll get to that in a moment.
First though, I’m just getting ready to take a short personal retreat, something I highly recommend, if possible. It’s nothing special, just a day or two away at an airbnb where I can focus on reflecting on the past and planning for the future. But the impact of just a day or two (or even just a few dedicated hours) can be massive!
I’ll be using my Plan Your Extra Focus Year workbook to do my planning this year.
If you’re a paid supporter of Extra Focus, you can download it for free here (scroll down to the bottom):
Jesse J. Anderson
Now about those changes I mentioned...
Substack
At the start of the year, I switched to using Substack as the primary platform for the Extra Focus newsletter. For the most part, it’s been great!
I added the paid supporter option and many of you signed up, helping to both support me and the work I do (thank you!). In 2023, the newsletter grew from around 40k subscribers to over 60k subscribers, in part thanks to 90 newsletters that added me as a recommendation (thank you!).
And thanks to some of the substack features like comments and chat, there’s been more of a community feel this last year which has been fun to see and be a part of.
Connecting with other ADHDers can be so incredibly validating, just knowing that we aren’t alone with our struggles and the way we often view the world.
Life with ADHD: Continually discovering that my odd habits, which I used to hide, are actually quite normal within the ADHD circle. (via Threads)
Unfortunately, there’s been some issues along the way.
Some of the issues I’ve had with Substack are technical and behind-the-scenes, mostly having to do with a lack of control or flexibility or customization. Other Substack issues have been… well… less behind-the-scenes.
If you don’t already know what I’m talking about, just google “substack” and you’ll see plenty of articles discussing it. Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time I’ve felt my personal values in conflict with Substack’s.
It’s extremely disappointing and not what I want to be dealing with or thinking about during my holiday break. But at the end of the day, I feel like I need to make a change.
I’m no longer going to use Substack.
What will this look like? Well, I’m still figuring out the details. Most likely, I am going to be moving to a platform called Ghost in the coming weeks. This will allow me to maintain a very similar experience and is supposed to let me easily transfer existing paid memberships without anyone needing to do anything.
If all goes well, it will be a mostly seamless transition for everyone. Well, everyone except for me because I’m going to be working my tail off to try to make sure everything works correctly! 😅
Ghost will cost me more upfront (Substack is free but takes a percentage of all paid subscriptions), but also gives me more control and flexibility. My hope is that I can continue to create value with ADHD resources (like the Plan Your Extra Focus Year workbook), community features, and more in this next year and make up the difference with more people becoming paid supporters.
(Thanks again to everyone who’s ever been a supporter of this newsletter—your support has made a huge difference!)
Despite this being a change I wasn’t exactly expecting, I’m super hopeful for 2024 to be an amazing year and I really can’t wait to see where things go from here!
If you have any ideas on things you’d love to see, let me know in the comments or with an email.
Thanks for being part of this journey. 💙
Stay focused,
Jesse J. Anderson