Selim Uysal

Exactly one year ago, I felt completely stuck.

Not in a dramatic way. Just… uncertain. Foggy. Like life was “on pause” and I didn’t know how or when things would move again.

But I kept showing up.

Not always perfectly. Not always with motivation.

But I still:

• Recorded my thoughts

• Wrote down ideas

• Applied for jobs

• Had small conversations

• Took walks to clear my mind

And now?

One year later, I’m in the exact same place—literally—but everything feels different.

Because here’s the thing no one tells you:

Change often happens quietly. Slowly. Beneath the surface.

You won’t always notice it until suddenly you do.

Until you’re sitting in the same park, in the same city, but with a completely different story.

So if you feel like nothing’s moving… keep showing up.

You’re not stuck. You’re just mid-transition.

Keep writing. Keep walking. Keep applying. Keep asking. Keep dreaming.

Because your story is unfolding—one tiny, brave act at a time.

💬 Ever had a quiet turning point in your life?

I’d love to hear it.

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A productivity trap I see too often?

Trying to run everything through one app.

Notion for tasks, notes, habits, goals, CRM, meal plans, maybe even breathing… 😅

I’ve been there.

But here’s the truth: Just because a tool can do something doesn’t mean it should.

🧠 For habits → I use a habit tracker
🗂 For tasks → Todoist
📅 For calendar → Google Calendar + Fantastical
🗓️ For scheduling → Calendly
📝 For notes → Evernote & Notion
📩 For newsletters → Beehiiv or ConvertKit
📬 For inbox → Superhuman
🌐 For quick landing pages → Carrd

Sure, some of these can overlap. But when I tried to cram everything into one system?

❌ It slowed me down.
❌ It made my workflow messier.
❌ I spent more time maintaining the system than doing actual work.

Here’s what I’ve learned:

👉 Specialized tools exist for a reason.
👉 You don’t use a Swiss army knife to make dinner.
👉 You use a chef’s knife, a garlic press, and an air fryer—each for its own job.

Stop trying to build the perfect all-in-one system.
Start building your system—with tools that actually serve you.

🛠 What’s one tool that makes your life 10x easier right now?

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Today marks the final day of fasting. 29 days have passed, and I can’t help but feel a mix of gratitude and awe.

Ramadan always teaches me something, but this year, one lesson stood out more than anything else:

The power of delayed gratification.

Not just resisting food or water during the day. But resisting the urge to act on every impulse.

☕ Coffee cravings?
🧃 A quick sip of water?
📱 That urge to scroll or react instantly?

Every day of fasting reminded me that I don’t need to say yes to every urge. I can pause, wait, and choose better.

In fact, for more than half the month, I fasted nearly 18 hours a day, without even waking for sahoor. Something that felt impossible became doable with faith, practice, and divine help.

Ramadan has a way of showing us our own potential.
And beyond the physical challenge, there’s a deeper transformation:
✅ Rebuilding self-control
✅ Strengthening faith
✅ Regulating habits (even if imperfectly)

And now, as Eid approaches, I’m reminded that the true goal isn’t just to complete Ramadan, but to carry its spirit forward.

What did you take away from this month?
And how do you plan to sustain it?

🕌 Eid Mubarak to those celebrating. May the lessons of this month stay with us throughout the year.

—

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♻️ Repost to share the spirit of Ramadan.
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Today is March 28, and tomorrow marks the final day of Ramadan; a month-long journey that reshaped my habits, thinking, and emotional clarity.

One of the most powerful lessons I've experienced this Ramadan is the practice of delayed gratification.

Fasting isn’t merely about abstaining from food or drink; it's a deep, internal reset that transforms the way you handle desires and impulses.

Earlier this month, I shared insights from TJ Power’s book “The Dose Effect”, which describes how our behavior is significantly influenced by hormones:

• Dopamine: Boosts your motivation & sharpens attention.

• Oxytocin: Enhances connection & builds confidence.

• Serotonin: Elevates energy levels & stabilizes mood.

• Endorphins: Strengthens stress tolerance & supports physical fitness.

Ramadan provides an ideal environment to reset these neurochemicals, serving as the ultimate mental, physical, and emotional detox.

Over the past month, I've become increasingly aware of how often we chase immediate satisfaction; snacking impulsively, endlessly scrolling social media, or reacting emotionally without pause.

But fasting retrains your brain. It encourages you to:

✅ Pause before giving in to cravings
✅ Reflect on what your body and mind truly need
✅ Choose consciously what's beneficial in the long run

It's this newfound discipline of delaying instant rewards that I'm determined to carry forward beyond Ramadan.

What about you?
Have you experienced something similar this Ramadan, or through fasting and mindful habits in general?

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We all love fresh starts.

New Year’s resolutions. Monday mornings. Ambitious goals at the start of Ramadan. Big projects at work.

But let’s be honest—most of us fade halfway through.

That initial spark? It dims. Life happens. We get tired, distracted, or discouraged.

Yet, the true difference-maker isn’t how powerfully we start, but how strongly we finish:

🔹 Ramadan is almost over—but after it comes Eid. Can we carry the discipline, mindfulness, and spiritual growth forward?

🔹 March is ending—but April begins with new opportunities. Will we build on the momentum, or let goals slip away?

🔹 Humanitarian funding is facing serious cuts—but our skills, passion, and experience remain valuable. Maybe it’s time we pivot, explore new sectors, or find innovative ways to contribute.

Life isn’t about perfect starts. It’s about resilient finishes.

Because finishing strong creates real momentum. It turns short-term enthusiasm into long-term results.

📌 Ask yourself:

• What’s one goal you started strong but let slip recently?

• What’s one small action you can take today to finish it stronger?

The year isn’t over. Your story isn’t finished.

Let’s end strong.

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Most creators & businesses are still relying on traditional newsletters, free PDFs, or social media followers to grow their audience.

But there’s a better, smarter way:

Educational Email Courses (EECs).

Here’s what they are and why they convert better than anything else:

📌 What Exactly Is an EEC?

An EEC is a short, automated sequence of emails designed to educate your audience on a specific problem or outcome they care about. Think of it like a structured mini-course delivered via email—providing immediate value and building trust.

🚀 Why Do You Need an EEC?

1. High Conversions:

Traditional newsletter opt-ins? 5–10%.

EEC opt-ins? Up to 70%.

Why? Readers clearly see the immediate value they’ll get.

2. Built-in Trust & Authority:

When you educate first, you establish yourself as an expert. Readers who trust you become customers who buy from you.

3. Better Audience Relationships:

EECs are interactive, engaging, and deliver value upfront. This deepens your audience connection faster than any PDF or random social media post.

4. Automated Growth & Sales:

EECs aren’t just educational—they strategically guide subscribers toward a product, community, or consultation. Meaning: more conversions, less effort.

🔥 Who Needs an EEC?

• Coaches & Consultants (to attract clients)

• SaaS companies (to onboard users)

• Creators & Authors (to build audience loyalty)

• Anyone struggling with low website or social conversions

If you don’t have an EEC yet, you’re leaving money and meaningful connections on the table.

Stop missing opportunities. Educate, engage, and convert better.

📩 Ready to create your first EEC or newsletter?

→ StartYourNewsletter.Today

Need more hands-on support?

📆 DM me or book your Newsletter & EEC Clarity Call:

Ever noticed how, just when things are going really well, something weird happens?

You get a big opportunity and suddenly procrastinate.
You have a great week, then pick a fight, get sick, or self-destruct.

That’s not bad luck.
That’s what The Big Leap calls the Upper Limit Problem.

Gay Hendricks describes it as our subconscious resistance to success, happiness, and abundance, a hidden thermostat that limits how much good we think we can handle.

We all carry old beliefs like:

🔹 “I’m not good enough.”
🔹 “I don’t deserve this.”
🔹 “If I succeed, others will feel bad.”

So when life gets too good, our internal alarm goes off, and we subconsciously sabotage it to get back to “normal.”

🛑 This shows up in:

• Procrastination after momentum
• Sudden anxiety during progress
• Relationship drama when things are peaceful

The solution?

👉 Expand your capacity for success.
Catch yourself in the act and say:
“I’m upper-limiting right now. I’m allowed to feel this good.”

Hendricks says: “Each of us has an inner thermostat setting that determines how much love, success, and creativity we allow ourselves to enjoy.”

If you want to grow, you don’t just need better habits.
You need to raise that setting.

—

📌 Ever caught yourself self-sabotaging after a win?

Let me know below 👇

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♻️ Repost to help someone break their upper limit.
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If you feel scattered or unmotivated, I want to offer a reframe:

You’re not lazy.
You’re just stuck responding to other people’s priorities.

It’s easy to confuse exhaustion with laziness.
But most of the time, what drains us isn’t the work itself;
it’s not having a clear direction in the first place.

Here’s what I’ve realized:

🔹 When you lack clarity, everything feels urgent.
Your inbox becomes your to-do list.
Your day gets filled by other people’s requests.

🔹 When you lack structure, everything feels chaotic.
You scroll. You multitask. You react.
But deep down, you feel misaligned.

🔹 When you lack ownership, even success feels empty.
You hit goals… that weren’t even yours to begin with.

This week, I’ve been thinking about systems again.
How even in our personal lives, just like in organizations or the bigger systems,
the absence of clarity invites manipulation.

If you don’t know where you’re going, someone else will choose the path for you.

So today, I have one question for you (and me):

🗓️ Whose agenda are you living on?
And how can you reclaim just one hour for your own?

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Today, let’s talk about using educational email courses as your lead magnet. 📩

Most lead magnets; like signup forms, free PDFs, or quizzes—have low conversion rates (𝗼𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝟭𝟬%).

But a 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹-𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲 can convert 𝟲𝟬–𝟳𝟬% of visitors because:

✅ It offers real value over multiple days

✅ It builds trust and educates your audience

✅ It nurtures leads instead of rushing them to buy

It’s not just “Subscribe to my newsletter”—it’s “Get a 5-day course on a topic you care about.”

That difference changes everything.

💡 Are you using a lead magnet right now? Have you tried an email course? 𝗟𝗲𝘁 𝗺𝗲 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀!

—

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📩 Get daily reflections in your inbox!

If you’ve ever thought about starting a newsletter but held back because “I don’t have a big audience yet”—you’re not alone.

This is one of the biggest misconceptions that stops people from writing online.

The reality? Newsletters don’t grow because you have an audience. They grow because you write.

Most successful newsletters started with zero subscribers. The difference? The writers hit publish consistently, long before anyone was reading.

What Actually Grows a Newsletter?

✅ Consistency Over Perfection
Most people worry too much about making it perfect before they even start. But perfection kills momentum. Every issue you publish makes you a better writer—and attracts more readers.

✅ Writing First, Audience Later
You don’t “earn” an audience and then start writing. You write first, and the audience follows. Readers subscribe when they see that you have something worth following.

✅ Trust Over Viral Growth
Sure, going viral might get you a spike in subscribers—but the real success comes from the trust and habit you build with your readers over time.

Think about your favorite newsletters. You probably don’t read them because they had a million subscribers from day one. You read them because they show up consistently and deliver value.

💬 Your Turn
If you’ve been waiting to start your newsletter, what’s stopping you?

📩 Reply to this email or comment below; I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Lately, I’ve been struggling with a self-sabotaging habit; staying up too late and missing sahoor.

I know this is harmful to my fasting, my energy, and my overall health. Yet, I still find myself scrolling, watching, or doing unnecessary things instead of sleeping early.

Fasting has made me more aware of how much sleep impacts my focus, but self-discipline isn’t about food; it’s about making choices that support your well-being.

💡 Why We Do It:
1️⃣ Revenge Bedtime Procrastination – Staying up late because it feels like your only “me time.”
2️⃣ Dopamine Loops – Scrolling, watching videos, or engaging in stimulating activities that override sleep signals.
3️⃣ Short-Term Comfort Over Long-Term Benefits – The brain craves immediate pleasure, even when it comes at a cost.
4️⃣ Lack of Boundaries – No clear nighttime routine leads to unstructured, extended wakefulness.

⏳ How to Stop It:
✅ Set a non-negotiable wind-down time (e.g., screen-free after 10 PM).
✅ Make sleep preparation enjoyable—low lighting, reading, and relaxing activities.
✅ Use the 5-Minute Rule—tell yourself, I’ll just get in bed for 5 minutes and see how I feel.
✅ Remind yourself: The way I feel tomorrow depends on what I do tonight.

✨ What’s one habit you know you need to fix but keep delaying?

📩 Want more reflections on fasting, self-discipline, and personal growth?
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