Hello!

This may be niche, but I spent a couple of years obsessed with the Nike Run Club app’s guided runs. Coach Bennet would dole out advice throughout the run and sometimes that would be followed with “This is about running, but this is also not about running.”

Well, this week’s newsletter is going to be about working… but it is also not about working.

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Ok, let’s get into it.

For the last couple of months, I have been stuck on the idea that I cannot do better than my best, and my best is enough.

Even as I write that, it feels like a lie.

Despite my numerous privileges, I have found myself over and over in professional dynamics that insist on telling me that my best is insufficient and that I am a lost cause. On some of my bad days, that sends me into a spiral where I give up trying my best. On other days, it pushes me to say “screw you, watch me.” Today is one of the former.

I know that I am not alone in wanting to do everything perfectly (and in tormenting myself when I fail to do so), but there are some things that I try to remember on these days:

1. My “best” is not equivalent to “perfect”. Unfortunately, perfect does not exist, but my best does. My best is defined by the skills that I have, the mental, physical and emotional capacity that I have, and by my willingness to learn. Those things fluctuate day by day, so my best does not sit at a constant level, but is always simply the maximum that I can achieve based on my current capacity.

2. I am still starting out and for me to be expect perfection from myself would be like asking me to qualify for the Olympics after hearing that I occasionally run 5k around my neighborhood. Maybe one day I could get there, but it is unreasonable for me to expect that of myself at this point in my career.

3. My best is enough — but if it doesn’t feel like enough, I can try again tomorrow. This one I got from my therapist and is a hard one to hold onto, but it is what helps me to accept when my best includes tears, or venting, or long naps after hard days. Plus, this one scratches that itch of achievement because it promises a tomorrow with the slate wiped clean when I can shoot for a slightly higher best.

I started Femme Futures to make space for these conversations alongside the more practical ones. In creating a space for over-achievers and activists who are not only in pursuit of personal perfection, but of global perfection, this question of what it means to do your best is foundational. I do not write this week’s newsletter as if I know all of the answers — trust me, I don’t. But I write this as someone who is struggling with these questions right along side you. Hopefully, I can share some strategies or thoughts that I have had around the subject that might be valuable to at least one of you. My goal was to make myself feel less alone and to, in turn, make some of you feel less alone as well.

Here’s to better tomorrows.

I hope you all have fabulous weekends,

Zoe

P.S. I have spent so long editing and re-reading this, it’s actually comical. Talk about perfectionism. This week’s note feels like it goes on forever, but also is over so quickly. Please let me know if you got anything out of this or if you would like to share your own thoughts on the subject. You can always reply to this thread email, or join us on Discord.

P.P.S. I made a playlist of my favorite songs that feel on theme. If you want to check it out, here ya go! 🎵🎵

❝

Slow down, you’re doing fine. You can’t be everything you want to be before your time.

Billy Joel

Femme Futures Cooperative Founding Principles

💚 Mission: The mission of Femme Futures is to create a community space for young professionals who identify as over-achievers and activists to generate collective success by providing resources and platforms to thrive in challenging workplace environments.

💙 Vision: To contribute to a world where driven individuals are equipped with the tools, guidance, and connections to overcome systemic barriers, fully utilize their talents, and enact positive change in their organizations and communities.