13d • Live Shrug Sessions
1/5/2026 Live - Brandwidth Exercise
This one is all about Lowering Your Standards for yourself in 2026 so that you can hit your goals whilst staying sane.
Forgive my ChatGPT recap but...here it is if you don't want to watch :)
In this first official Monday Morning Shrug Session, I wanted to start the week with a reset. Not a hype-up, not a “new year, new everything” moment, but a way to look at your design and content tasks without immediately feeling overwhelmed.
Over the break, I noticed myself slipping into a pattern I fall into a lot. I start building these very elaborate content plans. One YouTube video turns into a blog post, which turns into carousels, short-form videos, emails, pins, stories, and suddenly I’m staring at a week full of work I don’t actually want to do. The question I had to stop and ask was simple: do I want to do all of this, or do I feel like I’m supposed to?
That’s what led me back to the What’s Your Brand With activity. It’s something I’ve used for years, both for myself and with clients, especially when things start to feel heavy. I don’t see it as a rigid planning tool. I use it as a check-in. A way to figure out what actually deserves my time right now.
In the session, I walk through how I use this activity to look at everything I’m creating and ask a few honest questions: how long does this really take, how does it feel to make, how often do I use it, and what else depends on it? When I do that, patterns always show up.
For me, the big realization was how much everything flows from one core thing: my YouTube presentation slide decks. When I make those, I already have most of the graphics I need for blog posts, emails, pins, and Shrug Club lives. That makes it worth the time, even though it’s a heavier lift. Other things, like carousels, take me forever and drain me every single time. That doesn’t make them bad. It just means they’re not a Q1 priority.
So for this quarter, I’m intentionally focusing on fewer things. Getting a YouTube video out every other week. Turning it into a blog post. Sending emails. Making pins. Spending more time inside the Shrug Club. Anything beyond that is optional. If I have the energy, great. If I don’t, I’m not allowed to beat myself up over it.
I also talk about why I don’t actually need massive reach to hit my goals. I don’t need millions of views to serve a couple dozen people well. When I look at my real numbers and what I actually want my life and business to look like, a simpler approach makes way more sense.
This session is really about lowering your standards on purpose. Lowering your brand standards so you can actually follow through. Choosing fewer things, doing them better, and letting the rest wait.
I’m planning to come back to this activity every quarter throughout the year, adjust it as things change, and use it as a way to stay grounded instead of constantly chasing what I “should” be doing.
Rough Timestamps (optional)
- 0:00 Why I wanted to start the week this way
- 4:30Content planning loops and questioning “shoulds”
- 12:00 Bare minimum priorities and realistic goals
- 20:00 Walking through the What’s Your Brand With activity
- 45:00 Time, energy, and template decisions
- 58:00 Q1 priorities and closing thoughts
24:43
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1/5/2026 Live - Brandwidth Exercise
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