Photo by Mike Esparza from Pixels. First pancake not shown.
At 7:45 this morning, just after sunrise and just before an epic snowstorm descended, a new creature made its way into this world.
The creature is "The Organizer", a weekly newsletter for nonprofit and social impact folks. The Organizer is what happens when this blog melds with 20 years of practical nonprofit experience.
The idea is to explore one aspect of social impact work every week. First, we answer a common “How do I …?” question. Then we share a tool that can help make good work a little easier.
At this point, you may be wondering why I chose to tell you about a new newsletter alongside a picture of pancakes. Good question.
I've wanted to create a newsletter like this for ages. Heck, I wish I had this newsletter when I was starting my nonprofit career.
But launching things is hard. I'm so excited about this weird, nerdy project and I could happily write the newsletters 2 through 52 for my own pleasure. Even if they just sat in Pages files on my computer forever, I'd enjoy every minute of the creation process. But then they would have no impact. No one would know. The project wouldn't count.
To be real, this thing needs to launch. To launch, I need to write newsletter #1. The first one. And this is another story altogether.
Newsletter #1 will go out into the world and be read by people who don't know what's in numbers 2 through 52. It will go out when the format and the tone are still forming. It will go out when I'm learning the software and struggling to create designs that match what I see in my head. It will to go out into the world before either one of us is ready.
This is how life works.
January 2022 was always supposed to be the launch date for The Organizer. But as the date drew nearer, I considered changing it. Like twenty times a day I considered changing it. Because it's not perfect yet. It's not ready.
Then I remembered the pancake rule.
The pancake rule states that you have to make a "first pancake" to know if your pan is ready. There's no other way to know. You just have to accept that the first pancake you make could end up in the trash. Making a first one is the only way to know if you're ready.
So I gave myself permission to make a first pancake. I only told a few friends and family members what was happening. Instead of aiming for perfect, I aimed for "won't cause food poisoning". And in that sense, it's been a smash success.
If you want to read The Organizer (or know someone who might), you can subscribe for free at entremission.com. You can even read the first-pancake edition here.
More importantly, if you're thinking about launching your own creature into the world, feel free to steal the pancake rule. It worked for me.