The Harvest Layer - You Are Your Own Nemesis
You're Not Waiting for Readiness. You're Waiting for Certainty.
Harvest an onion too early and it won't store well. Too late and it begins to rot.
Timing is everything.
But how do you know when you're ready?
Week 40. The harvest is ripe. I can feel it. And I'm still questioning whether to pull it.
The Possibilities Are Limitless (The Paralysis)
There's a David Gray song called "Nemesis" that's been looping in my head lately. The chorus goes:
"Gates of heaven are open wide
God help me baby I'm lost inside
Feels like I'm buried alive
The possibilities limitless
Just give me something that's more than this
One shot and I'll never miss"
That's exactly where I am.
The gates are open. The possibilities are limitless. I can see everything I could do—design, writing, the newsletter, the methodology, the coaching integration, the AI tools, the transformation brand practice.
And I'm buried alive in the options.
Too many paths = no harvest.
Because here's the truth: when you can do anything, you do nothing. You wait. You analyze. You prepare. You second-guess. You refine. You optimize.
And the onion sits in the ground, getting closer to rot every day you delay.
You Are The Inputer
We're like keyboards. Whatever we input and press enter, that's what goes into the system.
I've been inputting for 40 weeks.
Design. Writing. Creativity. Devotion. Early mornings at 6am. Covers. Videos. Insights. Stories. The pattern that keeps returning. The boomerang that always comes back.
The data is IN. The harvest is THERE.
I'm just not hitting enter.
I keep waiting for one more piece of proof. One more sign. One more confirmation that this is THE thing. The right thing. The thing that will finally work.
But readiness doesn't announce itself with trumpets. It whispers. And if you're too busy looking for certainty, you miss the whisper.
One Shot And I'll Never Miss
The farmer doesn't have a lab test to tell him when the onion is ready. He doesn't wait for perfect conditions. He doesn't compare his harvest to the farm next door.
He puts his hands in the dirt. He feels the bulb. He sees the tops wilting. He KNOWS without knowing HOW he knows.
And then he pulls.
Not when he's certain. Not when it's perfect. When it's TIME.
Because here's the thing about timing: you don't get infinite chances. The harvest window is real. Wait too long and the onion rots. Pull too early and it won't store.
But pull at the right time—even if you're still a little unsure—and it feeds you through the winter.
David Gray: "One shot and I'll never miss."
That's not arrogance. That's trust. Trust in the timing. Trust in the work you've done. Trust that 40 weeks of devotion has prepared the ground, and now it's time to harvest what's been growing.
I Am Your Nemesis
The last line of the chorus hits different:
"I am your nemesis
Baby I'm life sweet life itself"
I've been my own nemesis. Not the market. Not the algorithms. Not the hustle culture. Not the lack of subscribers.
Me.
I've been holding the harvest back. Waiting for permission that doesn't exist. Waiting for certainty that won't come. Waiting for the moment to feel PERFECT instead of just READY.
And all the while, life—sweet life itself—is sitting right here. Ripe. Waiting.
Week 40.
The design work is there. The writing is flowing. The creativity is alive. The methodology is forming. The Rebel Onion is documented, proven, real.
The harvest is ready.
The only question left: will I pull it?
Not next week. Not when I figure out the perfect offer. Not when the audience is bigger. Not when I'm MORE ready.
Now.
Week 40. The gates are open wide. The harvest is ripe.
Nicolas Canon said it perfectly: "The hardest thing you will ever heal is the illusion that you were ever broken."
Let go. Let God. Pull it.
The "Being Coached" Layer: The Over-Thinker’s Penalty
This week, Dr. Goodman cuts through the noise: You aren't broken, and you aren't behind. You are exactly where you are supposed to be. The trap we fall into is Analysis Paralysis—the delusion that looking closer at a problem creates clarity. In reality, over-analysis only does one thing: it burns time.
Dr. Goodman reminds us that while you can always make more money, you can never make more time. He uses the golfer’s stroke as the ultimate metaphor: the more a player thinks about the mechanics of the swing, the worse they play. To win, you have to rely on "muscle memory"—the internal knowing you’ve built through 40 weeks of devotion. Success in life, like in golf, comes when you stop over-correcting and simply let it flow. If you go with what you know and trust the rhythm, the "God-incidences" take over.
Bookshelf Peeled - The Neutral Zone Trap
In Transitions, William Bridges distinguishes between a change (situational) and a transition (psychological). He argues that every transition has three phases: the Ending, the Neutral Zone, and the New Beginning. The "Neutral Zone" is where you currently sit—it’s that uncomfortable, chaotic space where the old way is gone but the new way hasn't quite solidified.
The alignment with Week 40 is Bridges’ warning about the "Neutral Zone" trap. Most people stay here too long because they are terrified of a "New Beginning" that lacks absolute certainty. They treat the harvest like a threat rather than a culmination. Bridges suggests that the Neutral Zone isn't a place to analyze; it's a place to listen. If you stay in the ground waiting for the "perfect" moment to emerge, you aren't transitioning—you're just stalling. The "New Beginning" only happens when you stop waiting for the fog to clear and decide to step out into it.
Transitions: Making Sense of Life's Changes
By William Bridges (Author), Susan Bridges (Author)
Design Rebel: The Performance of a Lifetime
This week was fueled by the grit of David Gray’s "Nemesis," sparking a visual deep dive into what it looks like to stop being your own obstacle. The video below features a "live" performance of an original track, "Rebel Onion Rising," which I co-written and produced with Songer. (Stay tuned—the full-length music video might be dropping sooner than you think).
The visuals and motion were crafted using Leonardo.ai and Veo 3.1, with the Rebel Onion's voice and soulful tone powered by ElevenLabs. This story was a collaborative grind between Gemini and myself, with the final cut brought together in Wondershare Filmora. It’s time to stop inputting and finally hit Enter.
Weekly Inspired Insights I liked or found useful this week:
In honor of this week's newsletter and the lyrics that inspired the message, here is a live version of "Nemesis" on YouTube. Enjoy.
P.S. If this resonates with you, share it with someone. I'm dedicated to helping fellow explorers—or anyone who found this page—uncover their authentic self with humor and insight. We're all in this together, finding the courage to truly live from our core essence (or as close as we can get!).
The Scar Layer: Beauty Marks of Survival
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