I did something last week that I have literally never done before in my adult life.

I finished something.

No, seriously. Let me back up.

I got so frustrated with myself and my complete lack of income that I finally sat down and built some actual digital products. Spent all of Saturday and most of Sunday on it. Tested every single prompt I created in four different chatbots because I refuse to put my name on something and ask you for your money if it's not worth it.

By the time I got to the newsletter, it was after midnight. Monday was a write-off because I got about 90 minutes of sleep and spent the morning navigating an obstacle course of cat toys and cat beds on the way to the bathroom. (I have never told y'all about my obsessive cat bed purchasing period. That's a story for another newsletter. Or maybe a therapy session.)

And then I realized I had completely forgotten to write the Remote Expresso newsletter for R GENERATION. Boris started that weekly newsletter back in 2024. I jumped in writing three issues a month starting March 2025, and took it over completely in December. Over 70 weeks of that newsletter going out without a single missed week between the two of us. And I broke the streak because I was too busy - lemme pause for a snort here because this sounds so official and business-y which I am not - "getting products to market."

And while I'm being honest about what actually happened here - I didn't do any of this alone. I have invested thousands of dollars over the past two years in coaching and training. Business coaching. Marketing coaching. Operations. Mindset. Real experts who know things I don't.

I bring this up because too many people neglect this part. They think they can figure it all out themselves and then either never finish, give up, or end up as a solopreneur with no support system wondering why everything feels so hard.

Every single coach I've worked with has something in common: they build community, they operate from abundance, and they actively create partnerships. None of them hoard. All of them connect. Nobody talks about that part enough.

So.

I finished.

Y'all. You need to understand what this means. Somewhere in my multitude of storage stuff there is a tub with over 30 cross-stitch kits in it. Most of them unopened. Of the 11 I actually started, I have never - in over 40 years of dicking around with cross-stitch - completed a single one. My computer is littered with half-built projects. My browser has tabs that have been open so long they've developed personalities.

Last week I set a goal, built the thing, tested the thing, built an entire storefront page with checkout and automated delivery, and carried it through to done. In a couple of hours with Claude Code, I learned more about what's possible than in months of dabbling.

I am inordinately proud of this. The page is pretty simple. I don't care. It's done.

Here's what I keep forgetting: the tub of unfinished cross-stitch doesn't get to write my résumé.

Neither do the half-built websites. The abandoned journals. The online courses I signed up for at 11PM and never opened. The business plans that made it to page three. The craft supplies purchased with the absolute conviction that THIS would be the hobby that stuck.

We carry this stuff around like evidence. Like proof of a verdict we already handed down on ourselves: "I'm someone who doesn't finish things."

But that's not a fact. That's a story we keep telling because we haven't updated it yet.

I didn't complete a cross-stitch in 43 years. And last week I built a storefront, tested products across four platforms, and shipped something real. Not because I became a different person. Because I finally had the support, the tools, and the stubbornness to stay with it past the part where my brain wanted to wander off.

You're allowed to let your past be your past. The unfinished pile doesn't get a vote on what happens next.

I don’t remember much of this past week (the gift and curse of having ADHD) but here are some links to things that touched, moved, inspired me, or simply made me laugh entirely too hard.

They called it laziness. It's not.

This one hit me in a place I wasn't ready for. The difference between knowing and doing when your brain is wired differently - and how we've been calling that gap "laziness" our whole lives. Understanding that distinction? Freeing. Actually freeing.

Weird is the new free

A truly excellent rant about how your 50s are not the new 30s. They're your 50s. Go live your life on your own terms. NSFW language. Worth every word.

What ADHD actually feels like

An ADHD therapist describing what it's like to people who don't have it. Spot on, funny, and a little bit traumatizing. Oh, and all of it starts the second you open your eyes. Or get up to pee at 2AM. Pray for us.

Otto the otter

Your dose of cuteness for the week. Maybe 10 seconds. Totally worth it.

Partner of the week

Turns out newsletters don't pay for themselves. Who knew?

This week's partner helps keep the lights on (and was my first CRM platform!)

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Last week I gave you Bring Me Your Mess - for when you don't even know what to ask AI about.

This week is what happens after.

You identified the thing. You see it clearly. And now you're frozen. Staring at the screen thinking... what now?

I built you a crystal ball.

You click it. It asks you three questions. You answer honestly. And it gives you one thing. Not a to-do list. Not a 63-step plan. One clear, doable thing you can do next.

Last week's Mirror prompt landed. (One of you got a business breakthrough from it.)

This week, something gentler. Same idea - let AI show you something you can't see - but aimed at a specific question: why do you finish some things and abandon others?

ROCO = R (Role) - O (Objective) - C (Context) - O (Output)

Role

You are a pattern-recognition coach who believes that what people finish and what they abandon reveals what actually matters to them - not what they think should matter.

Objective

Interview me to uncover my completion patterns and show me what they mean.

Context

I want to understand why I finish some things and quit others. Ask me questions one at a time about things I've completed and things I've abandoned - big or small, recent or old. Keep it conversational.

Output

After you have enough to work with, show me:

Why this works: You don't have to dig through your memory alone. The AI does the interviewing. You just answer. And what comes back might surprise you.

New section. Here's why.

I believe women do better when we stop treating each other like competition and start treating each other like reinforcements. There’s no scarcity here. Another woman building a business - even one that looks like mine - doesn't take food off my table. It puts more women at the table.

So every week (or close to it), I'm spotlighting women doing interesting work in AI. Their businesses, their projects, their events. Not because I'm generous. Because this is how matriarchies work. We link arms. We share the mic. We send people to each other.

Jedidah Karanja is doing the thing I love most - making AI feel approachable for smart women who've been told it's not for them. She's hosting a free 60-minute workshop called AI Explained on Saturday, April 18th at 10AM PDT. No jargon, no coding, you walk away with an actual starter plan. Register at getaicafe.com.

Friday, April 10th | 10AM CDT - 30 Minutes
Friday Jam Session with Joy Prompt Club. 30 minutes. No agenda. Just prompts, play, and people who get it. Open to anyone who wants to join in and has questions or a problem they’re trying to solve. You do not need to be in Joy Prompt Club to benefit from these fantastic humans.

Remember when I said I built actual digital products? These are them. 10 copy-paste-ready prompt kits for the stuff you actually need help with - resumes, LinkedIn profiles, interview prep, content, career direction, caregiver sanity, all of it.

Every prompt is built on the ROCO structure, tested in four different chatbots, and written so you paste it in, fill in your details, and hit enter. No tech skills required.

Newsletter readers get 40% off everything for the next 48 hours. Use code MOSTLY40 at checkout.

Anxiety to Authority - 12 weeks, 10 senior leaders max, Tuesdays starting April 7. Me and Tiffany Flaming. $2,997. Not for everyone. Maybe for someone you know.

The Executive AI Edge - 90 minutes with me and Kate Sargent. $449. For the executive in your life who's nodding along in AI meetings and understanding none of it.

Joy Prompt Club - My favorite little virtual place in all the interwebz.

I finished something. For the first time in 40 years of starting things, I carried one all the way through. It's not perfect. I don't care. It exists and it works and I built it.

If you've got a tub of unfinished somethings - cross-stitch, business plans, half-written novels, courses you bought at 4AM - they don't get a vote on what you do next. You're allowed to surprise yourself.

💜

Take care of yourself, take care of each other,

Deb

P.S. If someone in your life needs to hear that their pile of unfinished projects doesn't define them - forward this. The freebie is free, the crystal ball doesn't judge, and neither do I.

P.P.S. Newsletter readers get 40% off all prompt kits for the next 48 hours with code MOSTLY40 at checkout. Because you were here before it was polished.