Feeling stuck? This week I'm sharing what my first CrossFit classes taught me about confidence, creativity and trying something new, plus the Adobe Firefly prompts I used to generate memorable offline marketing ideas for events, retreats and speakers.
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My anxiety levels went through the roof this week before my first CrossFit class. Not only is it outside my fitness comfort zone, it was all in French.
Yesterday was my second class and I thought I might cry when I thought the entire thing was going to be based around pull-ups on the bar.
I can't even lift myself up once. It turned out that I'd misunderstood what was being said and it would just be a section.
Like most things we fear, the anticipation was worse than the reality.
'How long until I can do the bar gymnastics?' I asked my instructor.
'One year' he replied.
My immediate thought? You've underestimated me.
Five minutes later I realised maybe I don't always need to be rushing to hit my own success markers.
Which got me thinking about this month's Hype themes. Creativity for July and planning for August.
Most people wait until the end of the year to review, rest or make plans. In between heatwaves and holidays is when I think it's better.
It's why our live class for paid members is Love Letters with Judy Andrews. So much of hyping ourselves (or pushing ourselves into classes that scare us) is about having the self-love to try in the first place.
And why, whilst I'm on my social media sabbatical I'm experimeting with how to make my offline moments count.
I will talk more next Sunday about things I'm doing but today I wanted to share a prompt taken from my most recent Adobe event in Nice, to show how I can use Firefly boards to bring creativity offline.
What's one thing you've been avoiding trying because it feels hard to you?
Keep on hyping.
Lucy
P.s. for those who know, I found another full snake skin (not at my house this time just a dog walk)
My Firefly to take creativity offline prompt
Step 1 — Opening Prompt:
"Hey, can you help me? I'm hosting a Creative Writing Retreat in France in a couple of weeks for UK creative women, and I'd like to find a few ideas for tangible offline moments that are truly memorable. I'm also speaking at Happy Startups Festival. What could I make — personalised pencils? Postcards? Posters? A zine? An offline moment they'd actually love?
Please give me 10 ideas with the rationale behind each."
"I love the Prompt Cards Deck idea! Can you develop it a bit more?
Step 3 — Generate the Design:
"Great! Now generate prompt card designs — something colourful, simple, and bold. Check my logo 'Hype Yourself' and my inspirations for reference."
Step 4 — Iterate & Refine:
"Oh, that's fun — I love this one! Make the text a bit smaller and add a 'JUST BE YOU' sticker (feel free to adjust the sticker's colour if needed).
Then generate 5 product lifestyle shots of the card set in a sunny French countryside, styled with natural materials — like an authentic wooden table, linen, wildflowers, etc."
Step 5 — Bring Everything Together:
"Perfect! Can you add all these visuals to a Firefly Board?"
Hype yourself takeaway: Remember how I say you have three topics to pitch, your business expertise, human interest stories or passion points. The latter is ripe right now.
Bad week for 👜 handbags
Yes, apparently, we are now doing the #girlgrip. Almost a third of Gen Z head out without a bag, research by Echo Falls suggests they are seen as old fashioned, an Instagram account called @girls carryings*t has 500k followers and sales of luxury handbags are down.
Hype yourself takeaway: Been doing the girl grip for years before it was trendy? Pitch an opinion piece. Sell handbags and seeing growth? Pitch the opposite? Fitness instructor with some tips on how to hold more things without straining your hand - get that instructive social media vid out there.
Hype Sightings 👀 from Hype paid readers and beyond
🐝 Angela Howell has created two Beehiiv tools that genuinely save creators time. One helps writers generate social images for their articles/newsletters, the other is a newsletter block builder without having to wrestle with code.
💻 One week left for enrollment for Stacey Howells Site Seen! It's a website improvement program for service providers who aren't getting good leads from their website.
I know August can feel like everyone is disappearing for the summer which makes it the perfect time to experiment.
I always say you need to enjoy hyping yourself, otherwise you won't keep doing it and sometimes the way we hype ourselves feels incredibly awkward at first but you will be pleased you did it afterwards.
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