Sunset at my friend apartment last night <3

My job is to help you get specific and clear on what you’re actually trying to say. This can be hard because we all have invisible layers of conditioning and beliefs that are hiding what we actually believe and think.

You don’t say the truth, because you’re scared that if you actually show people who you are, you’ll be rejected, punished, or abandoned!!!! People will talk shit and say “who does she think she is saying that?”, “she’s a joke!!”, “she acts nice but she’s actually a bitch in real life!!”

You can get away with hiding when you’re in corporate, but you cannot get away with hiding when you enter a position of leadership, be it a founder, freelancer, or entrepreneur.

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Part of building your own thing will include marketing. Whether you like it or not, you will need to market yourself somehow and at some point, and marketing is about communicating an opinion!! It’s about sharing a message and talking about the thing you’ve created, be it a product or a service.

If you are already marketing and it’s not working, it’s because you don’t have an opinion!! OR your opinion is HIDING.

Yesterday I was working with a client on their content and as I went through each TikTok video, the low engagement wasn’t because she was bad on camera, but the point she was making was hidden right at the end of the video. The very authentic and honest hot take or opinion was buried at THE END. Sometimes we need to warm up to get to the point, but in marketing, and specifically in social, we need to get to the point, and share what we think, fast! This can happen because we simply don’t know how the algorithms and platforms work, but other times we do this because we don’t want to be seen as “too much” or “too opinionated”. The catch here is that your success hinges on your opinion! And you not sharing what you actually think is helping no one, let alone your business!

RSVP to the event tomorrow!!

Having an awareness of self, what you care about, what pisses you off, what you’re OBSESSED with, and what kind of person you are, allows you to have an opinion. And when you share that for eg. through your marketing, people notice!! You know what people don’t care about? Someone who’s saying nothing.

What’s the point of what you’re sharing? What purpose is this serving? Why this and why now?

When we question ourselves, and move into deeper answers, specificity emerges. And the more specific we are, the more we can be clear on who we want to attract, who we want to REPEL, and who are our people, be it customers, community, or audience :)

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“I help people build a business” becomes: through questions, conversation, coaching and content creation practices, I help women create businesses and bodies of work that allow them to own their own time, build an authentic work/life and be paid generously for that.

“I am obsessed with cooking, ingredients, options, and flavors” becomes: I use food as a tool to learn more about myself, my wants, my desires, and what I need in a romantic partnership.

“I’m a makeup artist in New York” becomes: I help women throw the rule book out when it comes to makeup and skincare and what is deemed “acceptable” as viewed through a patriarchal lens so they can express their true selves without second guessing.

POWER TO YOU AND POWER TO YOUR VOICE.

Sending you so much light and love! Now say the thing and see what happens!

Here are 4 journaling prompts to help you in your process:

• What’s an opinion about your work or industry that you believe but are scared to say out loud? What’s the actual worst-case if you said it anyway?

• Finish this without softening it: “I’m obsessed with ___ because ___.” What’s really underneath that obsession?

• Who do you want to repel, not just attract? What belief of yours would turn the wrong people off, and are you willing to let it?

• If you had one sentence to say the truest, most specific thing about what you do — no hedging, no “I help people...” — what would it say?

Tish xxxxx

Curious about coaching? It’s a huge vibe. You can book a discovery call with me here.

Want help with your brand and marketing? I’m taking on 2 x freelance clients this month! Message me xxxx

Stay connected

• 🔵 Visit SHAPES website

• ✨ Visit Tish Diggs website

• 🖇️ Follow me on LinkedIn

• 💕 Follow me on Instagram

• 📱 Follow me on TikTok

• the more money I’ve made, $60k year → $200k year

• the more clients I’ve attracted

• the more inbound partnerships have come in

• the more my audience has grown —> 12k total

These are the facts.

Getting to You 4-Week Group Program

So much time and money could be saved if you did the work to get clear on who you are, what you care about, and what your point of view is!!

I say this because I think we’re addicted to who we are today, the person who’s scared to say what they actually think, or show up as who they actually are, because we’re scared it’s going to be wrong! Or people won’t like us! Or there isn’t a market for the stuff we really give a shit about.

I’m here to debunk this.

Getting clear on who you are is absolutely critical when navigating a transition or building your personal brand because in a noisy, AI slop market, your clarity in message will cut through the noise. And your clarity in direction will allow you to build the confidence and conviction needed in todays world.

It’s this exact reason I created “Getting to You,” a 4-week group program kicking off tomorrow, because I want to help you build the skills that will allow you to become the person you need to be to build the business and body of work you deeply desire.

🧿 Getting to You 🧿

• Where: Zoom, live group calls

• When: Tuesday July 7, 14, 21 & 28

• Time: 9:30–10:30am EST

• Price: $197 — all recordings and work will be circulated after each call

With love,
Tish

Ways to work together

• IRL Workshop July 10th “How to launch a Substack for your business” RSVP here

• Book a discovery call here

Stay connected

• 🔵 Visit SHAPES website

• ✨ Visit Tish Diggs website

• 🖇️ Follow me on LinkedIn

• 💕 Follow me on Instagram

• 📱 Follow me on TikTok

Yesterday I was in Manhattan, heading back to Brooklyn after hosting a workshop. As I was getting on the subway, I checked my phone and saw the news that there was a couple who’d climbed the Empire State Building, got engaged, and waved a flag saying “When the power of love beats the love of power, the world knows peace.”

Angela Nikalou Instagram

Naturally, I looked into this couple and learned that this is their thing: traveling the world, exploring new heights, and spreading messages about things they care about. It was giving “One Battle After Another” energy. I watched that movie on the flight back from Australia earlier this year and it brought me to tears because I thought, “Damn, look at what these people will do in the name of things they really care about.” Without spoiling it, it’s about activism, resistance, and what happens when you care so deeply about a cause that it becomes inseparable from who you are.

I felt physically moved as I watched it because it brought me to a place inside of myself that I don’t often access but feels really raw and real, and this was the same place I went after I saw the couple yesterday.

One Battle After Another

It also feels poignant because yesterday’s workshop included a morning dance party as a warm-up ahead of the writing section of the event I was facilitating. It was a collab with three friends, who produced it, DJed, and played the drums. There was a moment as I was jumping and dancing that I looked outside at the crystal blue sky and thought, “Holy shit, this is what I do for work… I’m in New York, in a corporate office at 8:30 AM on a Wednesday morning, collaborating with my mates, and dancing with a group of people that I’m about to lead through a workshop.”

Way back when this was a pipe dream — getting paid to be me — this was on my list of manifestations. I only dreamed of doing work that didn’t feel like work, because I wanted to do things that both came naturally to me, that I deeply cared about, and provided massive value for those I wanted to serve. I looked up to others who I saw doing this work, and while I knew it was possible, I didn’t know how to get there.

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To build a business and body of work that’s as lucrative (or more!) than your corporate job, requires you to show up day in and day out, even when it doesn’t look like it’s working. To do this, you have to really give a shit about what you’re building, otherwise it’s going to feel awful, and you’ll probably quit.

“Find Your Voice” Workshop I Facilitated Yesterday

Over the years, it’s been a practice to consistently come back to myself and my why, over and over and over again. Because if you get stuck in the how, you will think your way out of action. You will stay stuck, ruminating on all the ways this thing isn’t going to work, or the ways that other people are already doing the thing you want to do, or that it doesn’t make sense now based on the market and trends, blah blah blah.

The reason you need to focus on the why and not the how is because when you get the thing that was the pipe dream, you’ll see that it was never about that, it was about the person you were becoming in pursuit of it. It was about all the things you risked, because you believed in the thing so much that it wasn’t a question of whether you’d do it, but when.

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The money is great, but it gets old fast. What I encourage you to do is strive for impact. Strive for change. Strive to leave this place better than when you found it.

Yesterday I was reminded of the heights (literally, lol) people will go to make an impact in the world. It reminded me of the potential we have as humans to spread love and positivity and joy in this world, even when it may feel impossible, scary, and hard.

Walking to see a show at the Comedy Cellar last night after a day full of incredible humans doing incredible things <3 Gratitude runs deep xxxx

In the workshop, I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude. It was so cool to be leading a group of people and witnessing them as they bravely put pen to paper, and excavated the things inside of themselves that they wanted to share with the world, all because they cared so much about it.

You are the beginning of all wisdom.
You have the answers inside of you.
You have the ability to create massive change.
You are an artist, and you have a voice and message to share, we’re just waiting to hear you say it.

With love,
Tish

If this piece spoke to you and you’re curious about finding your voice, developing your writing, or building your personal brand, join “🧿 Getting to You 🧿”, the 4-week group program that kicks off next week!

1. Enrollment is open: “Getting to You”, the 4-week group program kicks off next week! Get clear on who you are, what you care about and how that shapes your personal brand and voice

2. July 10th IRL event: “How to launch a Substack for your business” RSVP here

I first discovered ecstatic dance when I was living in Lisbon for a short stint. My friend hosted us at this beautiful property, served us cacao and played music as she guided us into our bodies as the sun set on the horizon.

I’ve always been a curious person, so I was excited to try it. And I remember thinking… this feels really good.

Ecstatic Dance in Lisbon 2021

A few years on, I was going through a pretty savage breakup and, in the pit of my grief, I was called back into my body. I found an ecstatic dance space near me in London and each week I’d go on a Wednesday night by myself. Week by week, I worked through everything I felt in my body but didn’t have words for. Thinking about how sad I felt was overwhelming, but when I got into my body, I was able to find peace.

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I started to access something bigger than myself. It was like I’d step through a portal and enter a space where my higher self lived, deeply creative, limitless, abundant, joyful, and full of love. As I moved and explored my edges, I felt like I was levitating and my mind opened up with all these new possibilities and ideas.

These were also the early days of working for myself. I had left corporate and felt very untethered. I kept wondering: “Where is the playbook that tells you how to transition out of full-time employment and build your own business?” I was waiting for someone to tell me what to do, because that felt like a much safer place to be.

What I came to realize is that no one was going to tell me what to do, which, ironically, is exactly what I had always wanted. To be free…but I hadn’t realized what freedom would actually feel like. I had so many options and, because of that, I found myself frozen.

One week at ecstatic dance, I brought my feelings to the dance floor, closed my eyes, and started to ask my higher self for answers:

“Help me,” I said in my head. “Help me find the answers. Help me with my next steps. Help me be of service. Help me serve something bigger than myself.”

That week, I got a download. I stopped looking outside of myself and started to get clear on what I loved, what I was good at, and how I could help change people’s businesses with my skills.

The Canva post for “Getting Visible” 8-week group program in 2023

“Getting Visible,” I typed on a Canva post.

It was the summer of 2023, and I decided: Fuck it. This has really helped me. I know it will help others. So I wrote out the bones for a course based on my skills, competencies, track record, and obsessions.

I had worked through so many visibility blocks since leaving corporate, because I knew that if I wanted more clients, I would have to show up and share about myself and my work. I had started a Substack, a TikTok, a new Instagram account, and was posting more on LinkedIn.

The more I showed up, the more attention I got, and the more discovery calls and new clients I signed. A big part of my ability to create content that landed was the relationship I had built with myself through movement and ecstatic dance.

So I thought: what if I launched a program that taught people how to find their voice and market themselves through writing, creating content, working on their brand, and moving their bodies?

Zoom recording from a dancing session in the group program

Over eight weeks, I guided a group of consultants and coaches through the process of defining their brand, values, content, voice, and creativity.

I think back to those early days and how much courage it took to just do the thing. I believe that’s exactly why it worked, because I was never trying to be anyone other than myself.

I had no idea where it would lead but I just knew it felt right.

In Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford commencement address he speaks about life’s seemingly random and disconnected experiences are actually foundational “dots” that will intuitively and organically emerge into a purposeful, meaningful trajectory when viewed in hindsight. I think about this often. We want to know the fully fleshed out plan, but what we need to do is focus on what feels alive and right in the moment, and bravely walk towards it.

A screenshot that guided a lot of my creative work when I left corporate.

What started as a small group program based on things I loved teaching and doing, has led me somewhere I genuinely could not have imagined. 3 years on, “Getting Visible” is now a program I am running at one of the fastest-growing tech companies here in NYC, and I couldn’t have planned it if I tried. I just kept following what felt aligned.

This is what I believe we all need to do, especially now, in a world being reshaped by AI. Your success lies in your ability to connect with yourself, get clear on who you are, what you care about, and what you want to bring into this world that only you could create, because there is only one of you.

The old world told us to look outside of ourselves for value and worth. To follow someone else’s ten-step plan to get from A to B.

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The new world doesn’t have a plan. We’re in a unique moment where the playing field is level and every single one of us has an opportunity to build something that is uniquely, unmistakably ours.

When everyone has access to the same tools, and AI exists to give us more knowledge than we’ve ever had, what emerges is our human ability to tap into creativity and build things that may have been unimaginable before.

You left corporate to build a life on your terms, and now you’re being asked to step up and make it happen.

I believe in you.

All the love and light as you build and grow,
Tish xxxxxx

Ways to work together

• Book a discovery call here

• Enrollment Open: “Getting to You” 4-week group program starts July 7th

• IRL Workshop July 10th “How to launch a Substack for your business” RSVP here

Stay connected

• 🔵 Visit SHAPES website

• ✨ Visit Tish Diggs website

• 🖇️ Follow me on LinkedIn

• 💕 Follow me on Instagram

• 📱 Follow me on TikTok

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Good morning!

A little note for you today where I unpack why so many entrepreneurs struggle with brand and marketing, not because they don't understand their audience, but because they haven't anchored in themselves first. I break down the real difference between brand, marketing, and sales, and make the case that self-knowledge isn't a nice-to-have, it's the foundation everything else is built on.

Enjoy!

Tish xxxx

Ways to work together

• Book a discovery call here

• Sign up to my next 4-week group program, “Getting to You” kicking off in July

• RSVP IRL Workshop": How to launch a Substack for your business, July 10th here

Stay connected

• 🔵 Visit SHAPES website

• ✨ Visit Tish Diggs website

• 🖇️ Follow me on LinkedIn

• 💕 Follow me on Instagram

• 📱 Follow me on TikTok

Read time: 6 mins

Today you are going to meet Tam, a New York based producer and strategist. With a background rooted in the art world (previously at David Zwirner and Karma), she helps grow client event programs in creative and luxury sectors.

Anyone can build a business and brand, but it’s a completely different strategy when you want to build something you’re actually proud of that also serves as a legacy piece.

If you want to build a freelance business rooted in your authentic skills, and work with clients that are aligned, then you’ll want to read this piece!

This is about you becoming the niche!

Enjoy,

Tish xxxx

Tam pictured at a recent mashu mashu event she produced

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The Thread That Was Always There

I started working with Tam after she’d done some exercises I’d included in an Instagram story as part of the “Illuminati Method”, a framework I use to uncover what makes a client unique.

One thing I’ve learned working with founders and freelancers is that being exceptional at your craft and being able to articulate your value are two very different skills. Many of us spend years building expertise inside organizations and we’re rewarded for doing great work, but not necessarily for talking about it, and the language for who we are and what we offer gets left behind.

When Tam and I started working together, her résumé was impressive, but it was learning about her early years that really stood out to me.

Before she was producing events professionally, she was creating experiences that brought people together. At Brown University, she lived in an international co-operative house where students transformed spaces, trained resident DJs, designed specialty cocktails, and built community from scratch. She chose to live on the “after-party floor,” where residents were expected to host gatherings every weekend. At the time it was just about having fun, but looking back, it was an early rehearsal for the work she does today. I remember reading this in her homework and thinking “BINGO!!”.

The more I learned, the clearer I became on the story under the story and the real reason why she was exceptional at her job. She cares! She cares for people, for representation, for language, for creating spaces where others feel seen and included.

When we’re stepping into new versions of ourselves, the clues are often hiding in plain sight, in the things we naturally gravitate toward, the roles we keep playing, the problems we can’t help but care about. The work isn’t about finding something new, but recognizing what was always true. This is where we start, and this is where we build from.

What Nobody Tells You About Year One

Tam’s refreshingly honest: “It takes way longer than you think”, she said, as I was probing her on what she learned in her first year of business.

Tam’s Consultancy Launch Party

There’s something grounding about hearing the truth rather than the version we get online. When you actually expect things to take time, when you’re not measuring yourself against someone else’s highlight reel, you create space to be present in the process, and that’s the part nobody talks about. The highlight reel is just that, a highlight reel, but you also need to root yourself in the reality that all great things take time.

One of Tam’s most consistent rules in year one was to always say yes to an introduction. Our careers are shaped by the people who open doors! You don’t need to be curious about every industry or trend but you do need to be genuinely curious about people.

What she learned is that her identity is the credibility. While most people think they need to position their services, our work began by positioning her. Week by week, we allowed the business to be an expansion of who she was, not a performance of what she assumed the client wanted.

The answers are within us, and when we stop to take stock… we remember parts of ourselves that we’ve forgotten.

“I have always been aware of my resilience, but I have remembered my risk tolerance and my capacity for boldness. I remember having this when I was younger, and am finding my way back to it.”

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On Building a Personal Brand and Marketing Yourself

One of the best parts of this work is watching the inner shifts translate outward, into how someone writes, speaks, and shows up in the market. When Tam stopped trying to sound like an expert and started writing like herself, everything changed.

Marketing yourself with fluency means specificity. Not “I’m good at events,” but the precise, alive version of what you actually do and why you do it differently.

When we thought about what marketing would feel most aligned for Tam, we landed on a newsletter through Mail Merge rather than a platform like Substack, because it felt hyper-personal, like a message from a friend, not a publication. It was a tool she already used, which meant it felt natural.

Her guiding line became: “I live my life, I naturally go to places and do things, and I share that because that’s what I pull from to do my job as well.” That’s authentic marketing in action!!

Images from a private client event captured by Ian Couch

And what happened when she started showing up that way? Inbound opportunities arrived, her network expanded, she started exploring different sectors like venture capital, and delved deeper into her Thai heritage and connection.

Tam’s List for Going Freelance

1. Sort your money first, everything else second.

Everyone needs a financial plan. Keep the job while you build, or know your runway down to the month.

2. Get comfortable in the grey area.

“You’re going to have to get comfortable with a lot of unknowns… probably longer than you want to be in it.” The grey area is not a sign something is wrong, it’s just what building looks like from the inside.

3. Go in with some productive delusion.

Keep taking action, even when you don’t have a complete plan. Over-planning is its own form of avoidance.

4. Build your community on purpose.

Stay actively connected to your network through coffees, dinners, introductions. Community is built through consistency.

5. Prepare for the people who said they’d show up, to not show.

“People who are the most generous with their words are generous with their words for a reason.” Show up for people anyway, but build your business plan around their actions, not their promises.

6. Know your three pillars.

Tam’s are: working out, being social, and doing the computer work. When one drops, she knows something’s off. Know yours before you leave, they’re your regulation system.

An event in the LES produced for mashu mashu

What “The Work” Actually Means

The coolest thing I see unfold when I’m working with people is the development of one’s own language, and Tam was no exception to this. What starts as a marketing problem, is usually a blindspot opportunity. What can we not see in ourselves that is so obvious to those outside of ourselves? What do we naturally love doing and how can we do more of that? Or what are the areas of resistance that may actually hold many answers, if we have the courage to step through the fear and unknown? It’s when we do this that the magic unfolds, and it’s not because the market suddenly changed, but when we finally stop hiding the most interesting parts of ourselves from it!

Stay connected with Tam! Visit her website or follow her on Instagram.

Leave a comment

Ways to work together

• Book a discovery call here

• Sign up to my next 4-week group program, “Getting to You” kicking off in July

• RSVP IRL Substack event July 10th here

Stay connected

• 🔵 Visit SHAPES website

• ✨ Visit Tish Diggs website

• 🖇️ Follow me on LinkedIn

• 💕 Follow me on Instagram

• 📱 Follow me on TikTok

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom” — Aristotle.

Photo credit: @mindvrchives

I am THRILLED!!! to invite you to join “Getting To You”, a 4-Week group program to get clear on who you are, what you care about and how that shapes your voice, opinions and point of view.

If you struggle to talk about yourself and share your voice and opinions, then this is for you! We’ll work through reflective exercises that will help you deepen your self knowledge, serving as a foundation for how you build your business, brand or projects.

Program Details

• Where: Zoom

• When: Tuesday July 7, 14, 21 & 28

• Time: 9:30–10:30am EST

• Price: $197

Sign up here!

Subscribe now

Stay Connected

• 🔵 Visit SHAPES website

• ✨ Visit Tish Diggs website

• 🖇️ Follow me on LinkedIn

• 💕 Follow me on Instagram

• 📱 Follow me on TikTok

I was at my friend Cami’s reading event, where I was reading Tall Poppies: Successful Australian Women Talk to Susan Mitchell. I’ve spoken about Tall Poppy Syndrome before, but as a reminder:

it’s a term that originated in Australia and New Zealand in the 1980s, referring to people with notable public success or achievements who are ostracised by others as a form of egalitarianism.

As an Australian woman, I feel particularly qualified to talk about building a business, because I was conditioned to believe that wanting more was a bad thing. That by showing up and sharing my opinion, I would be excluded, shunned, or abandoned. And it’s interesting, because from a primal point of view, the fear of abandonment was very real. If you were cast out of your tribe, you probably would have died.

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Reading night at Lightning Society with Well Read

This is how serious showing up and doing a thing is, on a somatic level. Our brains are wired to keep us safe, wired for survival. If your brain is feeling fear, it’s going to try very hard to stop you from doing the thing. But what it doesn’t realise is that there is a difference between the fear of doing something new, the anticipation of change, and the fear of an animal that’s about to eat you.

I remember learning about this and thinking, shit, that’s why I find it terrifying to post a video of myself online.

When I wanted to show up, create, and share my thoughts online, I knew something had to change. I would write content, save it, plan it out and then never post it. I would draft Instagrams, write ideas in my notes app, talk to friends, and gather advice on what to do. I was doing all the planning, and none of the action.

That’s when I knew it wasn’t a systems, operations, or access problem. It was something deeper.

It became clear that I needed to look under the hood and understand what was shaping my behaviour and my inability to express myself. I started to learn a lot about who I was, and to see myself clearly. I began to have deep compassion for myself, for how the place I was born and the culture I grew up in had shaped me into the person I had become. In wonderful ways, and in ways that weren’t serving the person I wanted to become.

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For example, growing up, all I wanted was to fit in and be like everyone else. My family were immigrants to Australia, and we also grew up in Asia, so between the two, we were definitely not your average Australians. I wear that as a badge of honour now, but back then, kids were mean! I wasn’t the most popular, and all I wanted was to change myself, because maybe then I would be accepted.

Practicing my first face to cam videos in 2022

That was just the tip of the iceberg. Over the years, I went deeper and deeper into myself. And that’s where the wellspring of ideas, creativity, and my voice started to emerge from. I started to identify as an artist, and did a lot of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy work to rewire my subconscious beliefs from fear to abundance.

This is still a daily practice, one I need to really work at. It’s funny, because you’d think that once you finally have all the things you want, you life suddenly changes. And I have quite literally manifested everything on my vision board over the past four years, and continue to do so. But fear doesn’t just go away because things change on the outside. It’s similar to aging. Just because you get older, doesn’t necessarily mean you become more emotionally mature. I will never forget my therapist saying, “You can be 60 and still be a gossiping bitch!” LOL. I love her. She’s an Eastern European woman, 65 I think, who consistently gives it to me straight, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

The point I’m trying to make is that things can change around you, but unless you change your inner landscape, you will always be met with the same limitations and the same wiring. And the experiences that shaped you, the place you were born, the circumstances of your life, don’t have to dictate who you are or how you show up in the future. You can change. It’s possible. But it won’t happen by doing the same things you’ve always done.

A screenshot I took from the Human Design App in 2022 (I’m an OG fan and follower!)

I love coaching because I have the privilege of helping others learn about themselves, which leads to a deeper appreciation of who you are as a unique, individual, and interesting person. It's important to understand that just because you see the world in a certain way doesn't mean other people do. It sounds simple, but it's actually profound. And this is why I love the excavation process, the inquiry that inner work gives us. Contemplation, and learning about yourself at depth, allows you to have a deep sense of compassion and understanding for why you do what you do, and why you are the way you are. This work is life-changing, because it is the first step to change: self-awareness.

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These days, the operational side of things is simpler than ever. What used to cost a business owner $50k for a branding project now costs $29.99 with an AI tool. So here’s my question: if more people have access to tools that do what was once reserved for those with capital, what gap is emerging?

Screenshot from Jan 2023

I am so passionate about the inner work because I believe this is the gap to fill between who you are, and how you show up in a way that’s authentic, resonant, and cuts through the AI slop.

In 2026 the quality of what you do, the way you do it (taste), and clarity in your communication and your message matters. And the way we get there is by looking under the hood and understanding yourself deeply, and communicating what you care about through your unique voice and point of view.

If you’re a founder who’s confused about what to say or how to share your message so that people will care, my invitation to you is to stop looking outside of yourself, and start looking inside. Get quiet. Sit with yourself and your thoughts. You are the beginning of all wisdom, and it’s from you that the answers will emerge.

So today, in light of Tall Poppy Syndrome, I leave you with this question: based on where you were born or raised, what beliefs or cultural conditions have shaped who you are today, and do you accept them?

With love,

Tish

Curious to learn more about my work? Book a call here, or join the waitlist for my next group program <3

Stay Connected

• 🔵 Visit SHAPES website

• ✨ Visit Tish Diggs website

• 🖇️ Follow me on LinkedIn

• 💕 Follow me on Instagram

• 📱 Follow me on TikTok

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Happy Friday team!

This one's for anyone building their own thing and wondering why the tactics aren't landing yet. I'm talking about the foundational work that has to come before the content, the brand, and the visibility, and why skipping it costs you more than you think.

Enjoy!

Tish

Stay Connected

• 🔵 Visit SHAPES website

• ✨ Visit Tish Diggs website

• 🖇️ Follow me on LinkedIn

• 💕 Follow me on Instagram

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Read time: 7 mins

Last Tuesday evening, a room full of founders, consultants, creatives, and career-changers gathered at Soho Works to discuss how to launch a Substack for their business.

The Substack Edit: How to launch a substack for your business workshop last Tuesday at Soho Works

In this workshop we discussed the thinking and strategy behind what actually makes it work and I walked everyone through my 4-step method of how to begin or grow on the platform. We had a hairstylist-turned-yoga-teacher figuring out how to build her personal brand. A copywriter slash healer, launching a whole new publication about breaking familial cycles. A Bloomberg alum. A candle brand owner. An executive search consultant. E-commerce operator. Someone running security investigations and a real estate broker to name a few. People at completely different stages, some with no Substack yet, some who’d been posting inconsistently, some who had a newsletter but felt like they were missing something.

But what they had in common was that they all wanted to build something that meant something. Not just another email that lands in someone’s inbox and gets archived.

The workbook including the 4-part framework + exercises

This piece is the full four-part framework and breakdown of what we worked through, the exercises from the workbook, and the thinking behind each one. If you were in the room, use this as your reference. If you weren’t, work through it in order! Don’t skip the parts that feel soft or abstract, those are usually the most important ones.

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Part One: Your Why

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Read time: 3 minutes

I was sitting on a hill in Brooklyn this morning, feet in the grass after my run. The sun was shining on my face and I was thinking about a conversation I had with my friend out the back of a workshop we’d gone to together “Intermediate Friendship: Level Up Your Friendship Game”.

We were talking about the tension between showing up online and wanting to hide. Using Instagram as an example, I speak to many people who feel terrified of posting or simply exhausted by it. Not because it’s hard, but because of the mental weight that comes with putting yourself out there or sharing something that means something important to you.

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There are some people who we will think of when we post or don’t post. Maybe it’s your partner, parents, colleagues or a specific friend. But we all have people that sit on this invisible board in our brain. Whether you're conscious of it or not, it's real, and without acknowledging it, those people may dictate and influence how you show up. Sharing your words and expressing what's true for you is how you find your inner artist. It's the process of posting past your imagined audience, rather than for them.

Looking back, I never realized that starting my own thing would be a spiritual experience. I didn’t expect all this stuff to come up in the process of sharing my thoughts online. And when I think of what’s happened since, I don’t recognize myself.

I was recently in Spain with my best friends and I was reminded of when I could barely share how I was feeling with them. It’s like I didn’t know how to. I was so good at listening and asking questions and giving space to anyone else, but when it came to me I found it so hard.

At an event I hosted one guy said “how did you become who you are, you’re so authentic”, and I’d say a large part of my development has been expressing myself online and having the courage to publish my work. Not perfectly or with a plan, just consistently and vulnerably. Through hundreds of small acts of feeling into what was coming up, and saying it out loud, I learned to push past my resistance to allowing people to be close to me and witness me.

Some of you might have a complicated relationship with social media, or with the idea of putting yourself out there at all. I’ve found that the discomfort doesn’t mean it’s wrong, but it’s a clue that you’re on the edge of something.

Magic happens when you publish your work. The very act of it — of actually making the thing and putting it out into the world — is one of the most clarifying things you can do as a creative person. You can spend months, or years sitting with an idea. You can turn it over in your mind. Ruminate on it. Tell yourself that it’s not ready, or perfect or polished enough or it’s not the right time, but it’s only by actually doing it that the idea gets to become what it was always supposed to be.

I’ve posted things I was convinced were going to resonate deeply but they landed flat. Or they kind of felt dead when they were out in the world and out of my brain. And then I’ve been riding on my bike, when I get a massive ping, so I pull over, post it and it ends up sparking the most meaningful conversations with you all. You simply cannot know until you make it real and you birth it.

This is where so many people get stuck. It’s not the ideas or even the creating that’s tough, but in the publishing and allowing it to exist outside of yourself. I know this is hard because it’s the most vulnerable part and genuinely extremely uncomfortable. But this is how I’m developing an unwavering relationship with myself, my taste, my style and my expression. Something no one can take from you when you find it.

If you see people making this look easy, it’s because they’ve already done the hard internal work of radical self-acceptance. They’ve already climbed Cringe Mountain. They’ve alchemised the somatic feelings that come up in your body when you choose to be seen: the tight chest before you hit post, the heat that crawls up your neck when you watch yourself back on video and want to look away, the feeling in your stomach the morning something goes live. These are all physical effects of your nervous system bracing for impact.

Every time I’ve chosen to show up, something has shifted. Something I couldn’t name becomes clearer and I have a certain confidence I didn’t have before. If I can back myself and believe in what I want to put into the world, what else could I do that I didn’t believe possible before? It’s kind of radical and wild when you think about it.

I see publishing, be it an Instagram post, TikTok, Substack or LinkedIn, as a creative laboratory. It is the place where I test ideas, find my voice, deepen my relationship with my own artistry, and build genuine connection with people who care about the same things I do.

At some point you have to decide whether you’re living for the people on that invisible board in your brain, or for the version of yourself that’s waiting to be met. For me, change happened not because I figured something out in private, but because I kept putting things out into the world before they were ready, before I was ready, and let the act of it shape me. If something is sitting with you, I want you to know that the readiness doesn’t come before the posting, it comes because of it.

Exercise for This Week

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Happy Monday friends!!

Quick note this morning to remind you that “The Substack Edit: How to launch a Substack for your business” is tomorrow ✨

The vibe is workshop meets mingling, a space to learn, think, write, and meet new people. We’ve got a great crew coming already, and a few tickets left, so if you’ve been thinking about starting a Substack, growing your audience, or building more visibility around your work, we’d love to see you there!

Event Details
🗓️ Tuesday, May 12
⏰ 6:00PM – 7:30PM
📍 Soho Works 55 Water Street, Brooklyn, New York
🎟️ RSVP few tickets left

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Website. Instagram. LinkedIn

One of the most common questions I’m asked is: “I want to start a [brand/project/business] but I don’t know how to position myself, or if I need a niche, what should I do?”

What I’ve learned doing this work for many years is that there is a huge gap we need to bridge, between what you think you need versus what you actually need.

Sitting in the sun, working on my standup comedy jokes for class last week

I used to think I could pay someone to give me the answer. I used to think there was a magic bullet, a pill, or a conversation that would suddenly unlock everything. I am here to tell you, that is not true. There is not one way, one coach, one book, or one piece of advice that will solve your problems or give you the clarity you’re searching for. The messier, unsexy truth is that it is about being open, leading with curiosity, and practicing the courage it takes to take big bets on yourself.

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I don’t think people want to hear this. And I say that because it means the responsibility lands back on you. You might think, “But if I do that course, buy that thing, pay that person, why is it still my responsibility?” But it is. And that’s not a bad thing. It’s actually an incredible thing! It means you have the capability and the opportunity to create whatever you want to create.

• The old world sells us a solution ➡️ The new world invites us into play.

• The old world tells you there’s a silver bullet ➡️ The new world defines growth as emergence.

• The old world gives you a fixed shape to fit yourself into ➡️ The new world hands you the clay and trusts you to find your own form.

Over and over again, I hear the same things from the people I speak to, because after all, we are all human. And we are all quite beautifully basic!

Life is full of pain, insecurity, and fear, and admitting this to ourselves is hard. So we do a song and dance to avoid the reality we know to be true. We numb and avoid. We become passive. We hide. We freeze.

I want you to know that this is normal. If you resonate with this — and you all will — then welcome. You’re human. It’s when we deny ourselves these truths that things get sticky.

When we take an outside-in approach to life, we give away our sovereignty. We outsource our decisions. We ask others to name our desires.

But when we decide to go inward, when we take a mirror and hold it up to ourselves, this is when the real answers emerge. We start to get to know ourselves. We start to meet ourselves differently. With compassion. With empathy. We start to see ourselves as the kids we are. All wanting love and all wanting to belong.

When we ask ourselves, “What is my niche?” we are actually asking: How can I make sense to the world? What do I need to do to belong? Who do I need to be to be clear?

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The answer is to try. It is the most simple and most difficult thing.

It’s simple because it invites us into play. It’s difficult because it opens us to judgement.

Never not feeling great after doing The Class

And this is why doing the inner work, alongside showing up, testing, trying, and ultimately finding your groove and your voice is absolutely non-negotiable — whether you’re a consultant, a freelancer, a creative, or a founder. Basically, anyone who wants to work for themselves and represent themselves.

And this will grow and change. As my friend says, our job is to test and experiment. To really think about the platforms we’re on and consider what kinds of people will be there, and act accordingly.

Through this testing and failing, we feel into the work. And over time, the answers emerge.

Today, I call you into your truth. I honour all that you’ve done, and I welcome in all that you will do. I want to ask you to really sit with what I’ve shared today. I want you to deeply understand that you are worthy of creating, showing up, and sharing your voice. I know it can be hard. I know you may not see the full picture. But I know you know at least one step you can take to move forward, and I want you to take it this week.

Journal prompts to get the juices flowing:

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Last week I wrapped the second cohort of Elite Sales, a 6-week group program that teaches you how to sell yourself and your work in a non-cringe way.

Running a sales program was never part of the plan. I’m a brand marketer turned coach, not a sales coach. But I couldn’t ignore what I kept hearing across my clients and in my own experience as a founder and freelancer: you can be the most qualified person in the room, you can have the most exceptional product or service, but if you can’t sell it, you’re going to have a problem.

What’s wild to me is that we are not taught these skills, even though we are selling all the time.

Even last night at my Week 2 stand-up class, the teacher said: “You need to back your point of view in your five-minute set and sell it to the audience.”

Like I said…we are selling all the time!!

• When you’re walking down the street → you’re selling yourself

• When you’re on a date → you’re selling yourself

• When you’re in an interview → you’re selling yourself

• When you’re at a networking event → you’re selling yourself

• When you meet your future in-laws → you’re selling yourself

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So why are we turning our backs on this skill? Why do we think it’s cringe, embarrassing, or lame?

I believe every single person needs to learn how to make their own money, even if you have no desire to work for yourself. It’s a skill that holds you when times are uncertain. I know this because it has been the most grounding skill I’ve had to fall back on.

When I don’t know what the next step is, when I’m in a liminal space, I come back to earth because I know that whatever happens, I can pivot and sell. I can find the intersection of opportunity and my skills, and I’ll be okay.

What I noticed across both cohorts were two consistent things:

1. 95% were women

2. They didn’t have a skills gap. They had a self-promotion gap.

So many of you are struggling with this because of things that happened outside of your control, like how you were socialised as a kid. Research consistently shows that girls are taught from an early age to be modest, communal, and other-focused, to share credit, deflect praise, and prioritise group harmony over personal recognition. Boys, by contrast, are encouraged to compete, claim their victories, and be visible. By the time these children enter professional life, those behaviours are deeply embedded. Girls taught that celebrating their achievements is “bragging” become women who downplay results in the workplace and in their businesses.

If you want to leave the system, for more flexibility, more freedom, to start a family, to build something on your own terms, you are going to have to get really good at selling. It’s just the truth. Read any book or listen to any successful founder and almost everyone says sales is the number one skill you need to get great at.

What I see time and again are incredibly talented women who simply can’t see themselves. And when you can’t see yourself, when you haven’t done the work to really honour what you bring, you either put yourself down or put other people on pedestals. I know this because this used to be me.

When I left corporate, one of the hardest things I had to learn was to get visible. To talk about my work powerfully by bringing in my skills, competencies, and track record, while meeting the market where they actually are, not where I assumed they were, because that’s how business works.

Join the waitlist for the next Elite Sales cohort

So many people I speak to think self-promotion is cringe, yet they want to grow. And because cringe is a feeling, that means it is linked to our emotions. I think you need to get really honest with yourself and ask how much of your life is being driven by your emotions, and whether you’re okay with what that means or how that affects what you want. Resistance to self-promotion often comes back to fear, of how you’ll be perceived, of what people will think. This doesn’t mean you don’t have confidence, but it may mean you don’t have the skills to communicate your ability in a way that’s connected to real potential and real outcomes.

I want you to really consider where you’re selling yourself short in ways you might not even realise.

You might be thinking: “My work will speak for itself. I don’t need to promote myself.” I deeply disagree. Based on my own experience and conversations with women across industries, ages, and levels, I simply don’t believe that’s enough. Many people are qualified, skilled, and have a track record. So why should you be chosen over someone else purely on merit, when the other person is also showing up, communicating their value, and making themselves known?

I’ve always believed in going the extra mile because if you want something great, you need to act great.

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When you do the introspective, self-reflective work and pair that with an honest look at the market, something powerful happens.

When you have the courage to look at yourself with real curiosity, to ask why? and what can’t I see here?, new insights emerge.

I don’t believe in simply accepting what we’ve been given, because I believe you can create the worklife you deeply desire. But it requires an honest conversation with yourself, and most people never have it. So if you’re here, doing that work, you’re already doing brilliantly!

And for those who are craving to go deeper, here are some journaling prompts I want to leave you with.

Have a beautiful week,

Tish xxxxxx

Journaling Prompts

Take these questions somewhere quiet. Let yourself sit with them.

1. Where am I currently underselling myself, in work, in relationships, or in how I show up day to day?

2. When did I first learn that self-promotion was “too much”? Who taught me that, and is it still serving me?

3. If I genuinely believed my work was worth talking about, what would I do differently this week?

4. What results, wins, or moments am I not giving myself credit for, and why?

5. What’s the story I tell myself about why I can’t promote my work? Where did that story come from?

Upcoming Events

• 5/12: The Substack Edit: How to launch a substack for your business here

• 5/13: Marketing at the Intersection of AI & Fashion with Daydream here

Stay Connected

Book a free 30min chat here

• 🔵 Visit SHAPES website

• ✨ Visit Tish Diggs website

• 🖇️ Follow me on LinkedIn

• 💕 Follow me on Instagram

• 📱 Follow me on TikTok

I’ll never forget watching my brother parent my niece and nephew. When they had a tantrum, he rubbed their backs as they cried and said: “It’s ok. I see you’re feeling big emotions.”

When I was a kid, I wasn’t taught about my feelings in this way. It was only when I started going to therapy years ago that I really began to deepen my understanding of my emotions and how they affected me. What I’ve come to learn is that emotional literacy is about being able to meet someone where they actually are, developing the ability to recognize, understand, and name your own emotions while empathizing with the emotions of others.

My niece and nephew have someone to sit with them in those big emotions, but most of us building businesses don’t. We just push through, or go quiet, or post anyway, then wonder why it doesn’t land.

What surprised me…

What I didn’t expect through my own exploration of emotional literacy was the effect it would have on my business.

I remember how hard the first few years of doing my own thing were. I felt overwhelmed by everything that came up when I had to put myself out there — share my voice, my thoughts, my beliefs. The gap between wanting something and actually being able to do it felt enormous. I remember calling my brother crying at the airport on the way to Amsterdam saying: “What am I doing? It just feels like I’m trying so hard to make people understand what I do, but I don’t think it’s landing.” When you’re creating something that hasn’t existed before, there is no playbook to follow. No blueprint or how-to guide. In the early days, I was feeling my way into my work and building it brick by brick.

But under that, what I was really saying was:

• I am so scared. What if this doesn’t work out?

• Am I ever going to actually make money doing this?

• Can work actually be easeful and joyful?

• There are already so many others doing what I do… why would someone choose to work with me?

“I hear you’re scared because you don’t know if this will work. Tell me what else is coming up?” my brother gently pressed, as I shared and cried. I started to name the emotions that were coming up. Fear. Uncertainty. Worry. Overwhelm.

When we can’t name what we feel, we suppress it instead, and that suppression blocks our creativity. When you’re in business, your creativity is the single most important thing you have to help you problem solve and keep moving forward.

This is what I needed. Time and space to be with the feelings that were surfacing, to see them, name them, feel them, so I could move through them and take the next step.

I screenshot this at the airport to remind myself that what I was feeling was normal!!!

The pattern I kept seeing

Before SHAPES existed, I was running a brand and marketing agency, leading brand builds and GTM strategies with a small, nimble team. While I loved helping founders articulate their brand through messaging, content, and campaigns, I started to notice a pattern emerge when we moved into the execution phase.

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When it came to sharing personal stories, their voice, or their message, founders would freeze. There is a big difference between creating a vision and executing that vision.

In order to create a brand, content, and marketing that actually cuts through the noise and lands in a unique and resonant way, you need to get to the material that will make your audience feel something. This is not the work of more tools or systems. It’s a deeper emotional piece. And sitting with your emotions, really honing in on them, is what bridges the gap between a founder having something to say and being able to say it.

What I know to be true is that everything starts with you. When you do the work to connect more deeply with yourself, you clear what you carry, and from that space, you can create what you actually want.

The workshop I hosted last week “The Work Behind the Work”

The Workshop

Last week I brought this work into a room of 15 founders and leaders for a workshop called “The Work Behind the Work: Clear What You Carry to Create What You Want.” I love when someone finally finds the words for something they’ve been carrying for a long time. Bringing awareness to this is literally GOLD!

“I realized in the journaling prompts that I have contradictory thoughts… I think that’s why I can’t move forward with this piece I’m writing,” said a founder after the second exercise.

“I’ve been trying to write my about page for six months. I think I just realized I don’t actually believe I deserve to charge what I want to charge,” said a brand consultant midway through the third exercise.

“I keep saying I want to be visible but I think part of me doesn’t actually want people to look too closely,” said a coach as we chatted after the session.

These are the moments when everything changes. When you can name what you feel, you can finally say what you mean. And when you can say what you mean, your audience feels it…not just reads it… feels it. That’s what makes someone stop scrolling or reach out. That’s what turns content into connection, and connection into a business that actually grows.

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Why this matters now more than ever

This work exists to prepare you for a world shaped by ambiguity, emergence, and adaptability. These are not easy skills. They are uncomfortable, revealing, and deeply personal. But your ability to know yourself — to be with yourself — is what will allow you to navigate uncertainty and show up for your community with clarity and conviction. These skills are not nice to haves. They are necessities.

In an AI-shaped world, emotional literacy is our greatest asset as builders and leaders because while AI can automate words, it can’t automate the human underneath them.

Before you go

As you think about your own brand and body of work, I want to leave you with a few questions to journal on:

1. When you think about your brand or business, can you articulate — clearly, out loud, right now — what you actually stand for? Not your services or niche, but what you actually believe?

2. When you sit down to write content or talk about your work, do the words come easily, or does something tighten? What do you think is sitting underneath that?

3. Is there a version of your work you can feel but can’t quite say yet? What would it mean if you could?

4. What are you carrying from your past (old stories, fears, conditioning) that might be quietly shaping the way you show up in your business?

Thanks for being here team! Much love,

Tish xxxx

If any of this landed or you recognized yourself somewhere in here, I’d love to hear from you! And if you’re building something and feel that gap between what you know and what you’re able to say, that’s exactly the work I do.

Stay Connected

Book a free 30min chat here.

• 🔵 Visit SHAPES website

• ✨ Visit Tish Diggs website

• 🖇️ Follow me on LinkedIn

• 💕 Follow me on Instagram

• 📱 Follow me on TikTok

I’m so excited to introduce you to Leigh! This one is special to me because it is so relatable. Any brilliant business, brand or project is not birthed overnight. It’s a culmination of many hours, years, devotion and refining of one’s craft.

Leigh is a senior stylist and brand and wardrobe consultant based between London and Australia. Her career spans more than 18 years across editorial, TV, advertising, personal styling and e-commerce. Her work has appeared in Vogue and The Sunday Times, and her clients include Rolls Royce, Clarins, Deiji Studios and Zara.

When we first met on a Zoom call, I got so excited because, put simply… I love helping people monetize their skills! It’s a cool thing to create an offer and learn how to sell it.

When you can name what you want, even imperfectly, things start to fall into place. My business philosophy is rooted in an emergent model of growth. This means the path does not have to be clear, but the desire has to be honest.

If you’re a creative freelancer who’s been wondering if there’s more, this one’s for you!

Enjoy,

Tish xxxxxx

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The Background

Leigh left school at sixteen and started working in an insurance office in Shoreditch. By 21, she knew that wasn’t her path and when 2008 arrived and took everything including her house, her car, her relationship and her job, she saw it as a chance to start fresh.

Following an interest in fashion, she went on Facebook and started reaching out to stylists. A few cold emails to a magazine and eighteen months of unpaid work later, she started to build her new career.

Then, on a three-month sabbatical through Central and South America, she accepted a redundancy while still on the road. Eventually, this thread led her to Byron Bay, Australia. What started as a stop became a full relocation, and she rebuilt her career and reputation from scratch, in a brand new market.

She worked with international brands during COVID, when Australia was one of the only places in the world where production could still happen and she was doing well. But the industry shifted — as it always does — and she had to think about what came next.

When markets change, the ability to notice the signals and act on them is one of the most valuable skills you can develop. The space that opened up allowed a question to come into light that had been waiting to surface: How do I build something that’s mine?

From Behind the Lens to In Front of It

Deciding to go all in on building a brand and business for herself meant stepping into new territory. I find the real work is rarely about tools or systems and more about the new identities that take shape.

When Leigh started thinking about ways to diversity her income like 1-on-1 styling, courses or online offerings, she knew that she not only had to create the product, but learn how to market and sell it. This journey moved her from behind the camera to in front of it.

While on-set work demands your eye, your taste and your ability to translate a brief into something visual and alive, it’s a very different skillset to sharing your voice, your image, and what you deeply care about.

Despite the fear that this new identity bought up, she knew she had to look honestly at what she really wanted.

What Fear Actually Looks Like

Fear is sneaky. It sits just under the surface, and it only shows itself when you have the courage to look for it.

It sounds like: I don’t want to be seen differently. Other people are already doing this, and doing it well. Maybe I missed the moment.

What I find so important about Leigh’s story is that the thing holding her back wasn’t a lack of skill, but a lack of scaffolding. She needed structure, and someone to take what felt enormous and help her find the first step.

The next step is never “build a business.” It’s something much smaller, much more doable, and doing it is the only thing that makes the step after that visible.

The emergent model of growth is about starting small and following a thread. It’s about doing one thing at a time and showing up for it, rep by rep.

Week by week, Leigh did the work and took the messy action that revealed the next step. That looked like learning to use new tools like Canva and Calendly. Building out the user journey of her product even when it was overwhelming and hard. And practicing face to cam videos, even when it felt cringe. This is true grit!!

What emerged was a new offering, but even deeper than that, it was an identity shift. This is where all change stems from. What started as “I’m a stylist who works for brands” shapeshifted into “I’m someone who helps people understand themselves through what they wear.”

The Thing She Brings to Styling

What we uncovered was that Leigh’s approach to styling was never really about clothes, it was about identity. It was about helping someone understand what feels true to them, and grounding them in who they are through what they put on their body.

As a teenager, she struggled deeply with self-doubt, with not feeling good enough, with the pressure of getting dressed and what it meant to be seen. She once faked an illness on a non-uniform school day rather than face the possibility that her outfit (after trying on hundreds of iterations) still wasn’t right.

I always say that we’re best placed to serve the person we once were, and Leigh is a living example of this. Learning more about her relationship with clothes became the foundation for the offer she created.

You are usually your best customer, and when we allow ourselves to see that, our product or service becomes a compassionate relationship with a former version of ourselves.

“Style isn’t about good or bad taste, it’s about alignment with self.”

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The Manifestations That Are Now Reality

Since our work together, so much of what Leigh desired has become real. She created a styling service, posts face-to-camera videos sharing her philosophy and style, has a beautiful Substack, and just hosted her first community event.

Everything Leigh does is effortlessly cool and it’s stories like hers that I love to share, because I want you to see that you are your own biggest inspiration.

What started as a dream is now real, and it can be that way for you too!

Leigh’s recent Wardrobe Workshop earlier this month in Melbourne

Leigh’s Restart Toolkit

1. Do a real skills audit. Write down everything — the soft skills, the things that came easily, the things people always seem to come to you for — and keep a note in your phone and keep adding to it. You’ll surprise yourself.

2. The kit is always the same. Reach out to people in fields you want to be in. Pitch something specific, not just your availability. Get experience wherever you can find it.

3. You haven’t missed the boat. The feeling that you’re late, that others are ahead, that the moment has passed — that’s fear talking, not reality. The boat is waiting. It leaves when you decide to get on it.

4. Your daily practices are your infrastructure. Know what keeps you grounded. Journal. Walk. Move your body. Talk to the people who restore you. Don’t wait until you’re depleted to figure out what you need.

Stay connected with Leigh!

• Website

• Book a styling session

• Instagram + TikTok

• Substack

Upcoming NYC Events and Offerings

• 4/14 The Work Behind the Work — RSVP here

Offerings

• 1:1 Sliding Scale Clarity Coaching here

• 1:1 6 Month Coaching Container apply here

Stay Connected

• 🔵 Visit SHAPES website

• ✨ Visit Tish Diggs website

• 🖇️ Follow me on LinkedIn

• 💕 Follow me on Instagram

• 📱 Follow me on TikTok

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It was a reminder to reconnect with myself and my purpose. Remind myself that I am an artist and the creator of the future I wish to see. It was a reminder that alignment is absolutely critical when building, and that I don’t need to, and cannot grow alone. So I shared my feelings with my friends, admitted that I felt totally whack, had a working session with my friend Kara, booked acupuncture, signed up to a half-day retreat at The Class, and got back on track.

Last year I wrote 33 refections on my birthday which has inspired this post. I often say you are your biggest inspiration because it’s true. And as I look back on this list, it’s another reminder — I am my biggest inspiration and I am so f*cking proud of myself, as I am of you.

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If you enjoy my writing, please consider giving it a like, comment or sharing it with a friend <3. Grateful to have you here.

34 Reflections on my Birthday

1. Listen to your intuition. It’s almost always right

2. Tell (your) the truth. The truth will set you free

3. You are more powerful than you may think. Our minds can be so limited

4. Learn how to listen, deeply

5. When they cry, hold them, rub their back

6. Slow down to speed up. And if that scares you, you really need to do it

7. You don’t need to reply. You can leave it and come back when you have capacity

8. Sit back. Not your circus, not your monkeys

9. If it feels off in your body, finding language to bring meaning around your experience can help. A simple “Can we take a pause here and can I check in? XXX is coming up in XXX part of my body”

10. Ask for help

11. Share your needs, clearly

12. Pause, take a beat, create space to reflect and come back to center

13. Dancing is medicine

14. Don’t say yes to things you don’t want to do, you have no obligation

15. Speak to people directly. Don’t talk about them behind their back. Be open and have the hard conversation

16. Rest and unrest derive from illusion. With enlightenment, attachment to liking and disliking ceases. All dualities come from ignorant inference. They are like dreams, phantoms, hallucinations—it is foolish to try to grasp them

17. Cry when it’s hard, then get back on top of it and take radical, aligned action

18. Investing in yourself always pays off

19. Stop testing. If you have done many tests, now it’s time to commit

20. Write everyday, even if it’s just a page

21. Reach out to people you admire or respect. Many often reply

22. You deserve love. You are worthy. Your needs matter

23. Know when it’s time to move on

24. Check yourself when you’re in pushing vs. pulling mode. You become the master Jedi, as you slow down to feel into these faint sensations. They help you to find true north

25. Cringe is between you and what you want

26. Do you have integrity? Lol sometimes…we are human. We are imperfect. That’s why we need to practice radical compassion

27. Keep showing up. Aways be yourself. This is how things come to you

28. People pleasing is a form of manipulation

29. Forgiveness is medicine

30. Be —> Do —> Have

31. People are in your life for a reason, season or a lifetime

32. Honor your body and your health

33. Commit to repair (in relationships, work, family etc), even when it’s hard. This is a very important skill

34. You are an artist

With love,

Tish xxxxx

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This is a special download for you, on this gorgeous spring equinox day.

Journaling prompts to welcome in the new season:

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