🌿 Study Yourself Or Waste Months: Rooted & Rising #22

Welcome back to this week’s 🌿 Rooted & Rising! If you’ve ever wasted time trying to copy someone else’s system only to realize it doesn’t work for you- this one’s for you.

Also Happy New Year! 🎉

Of course, before we go any further…

You know what I wish somebody told me before I got into entrepreneurship?

“You do not need as much as you think you do.”

What came flooding back to me was something my acting teacher told me after THREE years of acting school. (Which I was like — bruh, I could’ve saved my money AND my time if you had told me this from the jump.)

Here's the gem: You can't study the greats if you want to be great. You have to study yourself.

When it comes to acting, you can't just study what Viola Davis does when she's sad or what Denzel does when he's in love. They are not you. You are not them.

But what you CAN know is what YOU do when you're upset. What YOU do when you're sad. What YOU do when you're in love. You get the gist.

As we rolled into 2026, it hit me- this applies to EVERYTHING in business.

I wasted so much time last year trying to fit into a mold that was never made for me. I was trying to build websites because that's what other people were doing.

I was following strategies that worked for founders I admired.

I was consuming all this information about what I should be doing instead of observing what actually works for ME.

I also cut God entirely out of my work process. If you want to understand how something works, you typically go back to the source- the instruction manual that came with the product, the manufacturer, the company - we’re the same.

If we’re struggling to figure out what our process is, ask Him! He’ll straight up tell you when you’re still enough to listen.

Thankfully now, I finally found my lane. I'm meant to help creatives and founders show up online — specifically on LinkedIn. And they gravitate to my approach because I don't do cookie-cutter methods. I know that everybody has a different system because everybody is built differently.

But I also now know that I could’ve saved so much time by pausing, observing and asking God before jumping headfirst into someone else’s playbook.

This week, become a student of yourself:

Step 1: Track your energy for 7 days. When do you feel most creative? Most focused? Most drained? Jot it down.

Step 2: Notice what you keep avoiding vs. what you gravitate toward naturally. That's veryyy useful information.

Step 3: Ask yourself — am I building systems based on what works for ME, or am I just copying what worked for someone else?

Step 4: Surrender your findings to God and invite Him to partner with you in your plans.

You are fearfully and wonderfully made. That means God already put everything you need inside of you. Your job is to study it & work with Him to bring out the good stuff!

Monday Move 💃🏾

Pop on this playlist, take a moment to celebrate that we made it to a new year! Welcome to 2026 🎉

Your playlist:

The TLDR: You can't study the greats if you want to be great — you have to study yourself. Stop copying systems that weren't built for you. Start observing what actually works for YOUR unique wiring. You are the instrument. Learn how to play something beautiful & unique.

If you’re in New York (or willing to travel) and you’re ready to start the year off right, you’re welcome to our first Surrender Session of 2026.

When: January 15th @ 6 PM

Where: Harlem, NYC (Ominara Art Tea & Gallery)

What: A night of worship, prayer, and seeking God’s face for the first quarter of 2026. Bring your journal. We’re asking God: “What do You have in store for my year? What do You see for me in 2026? What do You want for my year, God?”

Space is limited because we want to keep this intimate. This is your chance to surrender everything that is not His will and step into 2026 with clarity and authority.

Register here!