How my team picked me up from rock bottom
When writing a book, every author remembers their rock-bottom moment. They also remember what lifted them up and got them to the other side of it.
For me, rock bottom came on a Friday night. It was April 10th, 2026, to be exact.
I was in the middle of an intense writing sprint. For the previous 13 nights, I’d stayed at a hotel near my house because I wanted to switch up my environment and write in a place that inspired me. I’d thought that being away from home would help me go all-in—and it did.
As I always do when I’m working on something creative, I was allowing myself to follow my flow, and that meant working late into the night. During my hotel stay, it had gotten to the point where I was working in the same timezone as Japan (a 14-hour difference!). For a while, it worked great: Before I’d go to sleep in the early hours of the morning, I’d send what I’d written that day to my team so they’d have it to work on when they woke up. While I slept, they’d edit and give me feedback, and then we’d start the process all over.
I loved my time at the hotel, and in an upcoming post, I’ll tell you more about that experience. But by day 14, something had to give. I hadn’t slept in my own bed in nearly two weeks. I hadn’t eaten a meal from my own kitchen. I was pulling late nights to write as much as possible, which meant getting less rest than I was used to. Being incredibly inspired to write meant that on some nights, I slept only four hours.
On this particular Friday, I was starting to write chapters that I’d predicted would challenge me, and I was right. They were hard. Even though I’d spent hours writing, I felt like I’d made no progress at all because the words I’d written didn’t live up to the vision I had for them in my head. I felt stuck, I was tired, and I missed home.
I went for a walk to try to change my energy and hoped I’d come back inspired to keep writing. But as I walked, I decided I was done with the hotel. I didn’t want to stay there anymore, even though I’d already paid for the next two nights (and this hotel wasn’t exactly cheap).
Instead of packing up my hotel room, I threw a couple of things in a bag and took an Uber home. My husband, Spiros, was out of town that weekend, and when I got home, I had to call him because I couldn’t remember our garage code. That’s how tired I was.
When I finally walked in my house, I took a shower and planned to rest. But then the guilt set in. I’d taken precious time away from life and work with the goal of writing as much as possible during this writing sprint. I was paying for a hotel that I wasn’t staying in anymore. I told myself that instead of resting, I needed to write and make this time count.
I tried to revisit the chapters I’d written earlier that day, but I could feel myself making them even worse. So instead, I went back to a chapter in the book that I’d already written and thought could be better. I reworked the entire thing, sent it to my team so that they could edit it when they were back to work, and went to bed just after 3 a.m. I thought I had salvaged the day.
When I woke up, I expected to see glowing feedback from my team. Instead, I saw a voice note from Monique, our Chief of Growth, my right hand, and my thought partner.
“I want to have a heart-to-heart,” she began. “How are you? What do you need? A break? A nap? A day off of writing? I have to imagine you’re tired. I know you aren’t getting a lot of sleep.”
Yikes, I thought as I listened. Was what I sent that bad?
As it turns out… it was. In her voice note, Monique told me with love that I didn’t need to rewrite the chapter I’d rewritten. And she wasn’t the only one who thought so: Rachel, our Chief of Content and primary editor of my work, agreed. When I went back to read what I’d written overnight, even I agreed. I’m not even sure what I did. The new rewrite was confusing, unclear, and quite terrible.
Monique’s questions caused me to stop and check in with myself for the first time since I checked into that hotel. What did I need? Rest and a writing break, for one. But that wasn’t all—and Monique knew it.
Up until then, I’d been the project manager for the book, setting editing deadlines for the team and tracking the progress on each chapter. But now that we were so far along, it had become overwhelming to me. And because I was overwhelmed, it was causing the process to be chaotic for the team.
While I was sleeping on Japan time, Monique and Rachel had a conversation about how to help me and came up with a solution: Monique would take over as project manager so I could focus on writing. In her voice note to me, Monique encouraged me to get some much-needed rest while she figured out the best next steps.
Monique took charge that day. By the time I woke up from an hours-long nap, she and Rachel were already cruising on a new plan. They’d made so much progress that it made me excited. Even though I hadn’t planned to write that day at all, I ended up writing for a little bit because their momentum inspired me. I decided to ask someone I trust to pack up my hotel room so I could continue in my writing groove for the next few days at my house.
I never had another rock-bottom moment like that one while writing this book. From that point on, I was mindful of checking in with myself more often and not allowing myself to reach that level of exhaustion again. Monique led the charge all the way to the finish line.
I took this picture just a few days later. When I look at it, I can see the evidence of a 180-degree change in my energy from the night I left the hotel.
This isn’t simply a story of a rock-bottom moment and an awesome pep talk. (Even though it was an awesome pep talk that shows the power that someone else’s words can have when we need them most.) When I think back on this moment, what stands out to me is Monique’s courage in speaking up and taking the lead.
Monique knew how much I cared about this project, and I have to imagine that she was hesitant to do anything that might discourage me or interrupt my flow. She also knew that I was getting less sleep and feeling more delicate than usual. For all those reasons, it would’ve made sense if she’d kept her thoughts to herself.
But she didn’t. Instead, she delivered her and Rachel’s feedback with love, and she didn’t wait for me to ask for the help I clearly needed. She just stepped in, took the lead, and did what she thought would help everyone in the end. And it did.
Whether you’re writing a book, bringing a project to life, or leading an entire company, we all need to be led sometimes. But it only works if someone has the courage to step up and lead—and if you have the courage to step back and let them take the reins.
Instead of looking back on that night with sadness or regret, I’m filled with happiness and awe when I think about Monique’s leadership. May we all be like Monique when we see a chance to help, and may we all admit it when we are in over our heads and someone lovingly points that out, no matter how hard it might be for us to hear.
I’m telling you, bringing this book to life has taught me so many lessons beyond writing. It’s been one of my greatest teachers because of moments like this one.
How about you? What did this post bring up for you? Have you ever had a rock-bottom moment? Who was your Monique? Have you ever noticed that someone was in over their head and taken the reins? Hit “reply” and tell me and my team all about it. One of the highlights of our week is reading your responses to this blog.
And between now and 10/27, I’ll be lovingly reminding you to pre-order my book if you haven’t already. If you are on a team or are a member of a book club and are interested in bulk orders, we’d be happy to arrange that for you. Just reply to this email, and we’ll take it from there!
Big hugs,
