Commitment beats talent

Hey 1,980+ friends, it’s Hannah here from Quoted Visually!

I was trying to send this to you yesterday but my creative juices were not flowing. I did not want to compromise quality 😅 Let’s normalise these dips and dive in now ⤵︎

1. On going all-in

Too often we partially commit to the things we want to do and get disappointed when we don’t see results.

But our lack of “success” is not down to our lack of ability. It’s our lack of focus 🎯

The problem is, while we are busy spreading ourselves too thin, giving 50% effort or less, others are devoting 100% of their resources to the same thing.

The cost of our split focus is high!!

But if we can commit to one thing, focus can too become our competitive advantage.

I've felt it with Quoted Visually! It started as a little hobby of mine.

Talent didn’t get my work in the spotlight, devoting all my resources to my work did. If we all want something bad enough, we can succeed.

We just have to commit to it for long enough to see results.

2. On gaining momentum

3. On the immeasurable

Jimmy Carr’s comedy aside, he dished up another thought-provoking podcast with Steven Bartlett recently. He spoke about how:

• often we trade the measurable for the immeasurable

• there are no solutions, just trade-offs

• adversity is a filter that teaches you who your friends are. It is easy to love someone when everything is going great

• the weight doesn’t get lighter, our back gets stronger ⤵︎

He also spoke about the difference between doing comedy full-time vs. part-time, and it inspired the visual above!

4. On entrepreneurship

Anybody who tells you the journey is easy, is lying to you!

It’s full-on, and you never know how you are going to feel from one month to the next.

It’s crazy have much I have turned my situation around in just a few short months.

• December 2023: I felt so lost, confused and isolated at home. I started applying for full-time roles and attempting my course. I was feeling pretty burned by freelance projects.

• May 2024: I now have a course out, that I poured 3 months of my life into building, and so far it’s given me so much joy and purpose. Recent freelance projects have also been enjoyable and life-changing in many ways. I feel more self-assured than ever before.

If I have learnt anything, it is to have an open mind 📖

Getting out more and seeing people in real life at events has given me that sense of belonging and connection which was missing before.

Taking on projects that have felt like a stretch have given me a chance to show myself what I can do.

The lessons:

• When we feel lost or stuck, often it’s only temporary.

• We don’t need to have all the answers, we just need to know the next couple of steps, and no decision is final.

• We can keep choosing what is best for us as the seasons change.

• We may jump between employment and self-employment throughout the course of our careers, and that is OK 🎢

5. On Quoted Visually

I’m feeling a little tired but very accomplished:

• big freelance project complete ✅

• last-minute visuals for a TEDx speaker done ✅

I now get to focus on creating some new kick-ass illustrations for you and levelling up the Quoting Ideas Visually course, before opening the doors again 🎉

I also want to play around with making my own font 👀

That’s a wrap! Feel free to reply to this email if you have any questions, requests or feedback. I will respond at my earliest opportunity.

Made with Beehiiv 🐝 - sign up with my affiliate link for a discount!

Big love,

Quoted Visually: Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn | My website