Research or Procrastination?

Where’s the line?

At what point does “figuring things out” become an excuse to not take action?

No concrete answer here—just something I’ve been thinking about.

Last week, I told you The Dodds Letters were evolving and big things were coming. I spent the whole week planning for that, until last night when I was honest with myself:

I still haven’t unwound all the programs running in my head.

I’ve been in Portugal for less than a month, and I’m crawling internally not knowing exactly what I’m working on. It’s laughable—there have been days I’ve walked 5-6 miles just to cope with the self-imposed stress of “figuring out my next big thing.”

And here’s what I realized: My big life decision this week is to just chill.

I’m 29. I just moved to Portugal. I have zero community here.

Before I map out my master plan for world domination, maybe I could make a local friend?

Baby steps.

A Cool Business Breakdown

I spent ~10 hours studying a cool business this week.

Ever seen those morning coffee shop music sets taking over social media?

They’re hosted by Steve Cardigan and his music label putyouon.

But the story behind it is even better.

Back in 2020, Steve was dead set on working in the music industry. He applied to 75 jobs in LA and didn’t get a single response. So, instead of waiting, he created his own opportunity.

He started a Spotify playlist, curating and sharing music with a small text group every Friday. Then, he launched an Instagram page and started making short-form content—one of his series hooks was:

“I’m a rap fan, but these house songs slap.”

One of those videos, featuring the song Matter of Time by Vandelux, went viral. Millions of views, global shares, and it 5x’d the artist’s streams. That one video got Steve a meeting with a music label.

(Great song btw)

From there, he:

• Partnered with Third Brain (the music label) to start signing artists.

• Launched his own label focused on actually helping artists (instead of just telling them to post more TikToks).

• Named a new music category (stutter house)

• Scaled his music playlists to hundred of thousands people

• Started selling out live shows in LA and Aspen.

He’s building a category of one—a business around being a music curator, pushing the industry forward, and documenting his entire process (read his newsletter here).

A masterclass in world-building.

The Takeaway

Great things take time.

It took Steve ~5 years to get to this point. He was fighting tooth and nail to get into the music industry. He spent years curating playlists, experimenting with content, and slowly building an audience before finding this thing.

I’ve been in Portugal for 29 days and I’m itching to have it all figured out. (Not the most realistic recipe for success).

So, I’m reminding myself — great things take time.

Building a business. Finding the right path. Even just settling into a new place.

If you’re feeling behind, remember — it’s supposed to be a process.

Keep showing up. Keep stacking small wins. Trust the process.

Rooting for ya.