🧠 The Top 1% Zen Monk Shed Theory

(A Tough Love Guide to Getting Unstuck and Getting Getting Shit Done)

You’re not lazy. You’re not broken.

You need to go into your shed.

WTF is the Shed?

In Four Thousand Weeks, Oliver Burkeman shares a concept from Zen monk Paul Loomans:

The Shed Theory

The shed is a metaphor for the part of your mind you avoid — the emotional clutter stuffed with:

👉 Half-finished ideas
👉 Unfulfilled dreams
👉 Unspoken shame
👉 The true creative version of you that you hide from the world

It’s messy in there.
Rusting tools. Broken confidence. Tangled fears covered in cobwebs.

But the shed isn’t just where your shame lives; it’s where your creative genius is buried.

Everyone wants the edge.

Few are willing to go where it lives, which is your competitive advantage!

You know it. You feel it. But you still avoid it.

I did the same for years!

So you over-research, overthink, and convince yourself you're making progress.

The longer you avoid it, the heavier it gets.

What’s in Your Shed?

👉 That creative project you’ve been “thinking about” forever
👉 That offer you’re scared to launch
👉 That content you don’t post because it might be cringe
👉 That business idea that could change everything — if you just started

Instead of starting:

• You doomscroll

• You chase surface-level wins

• You binge on productivity hacks and call it growth

But deep down, you know:

True creative mastery lives in discomfort.

Avoiding discomfort is how creative potential rots.
Not with drama, but in quiet desperation

The Real Reason You’re Stuck

Procrastination isn’t about laziness.
It’s when avoiding discomfort becomes your identity.

• You lose self-trust and second-guess everything

• You start believing "I never finish" is just who you are

• You cling to certainty and over-plan instead of building momentum

• You play small and silence your ambition

You’re not broken.
You’re brilliant — and terrified of what that brilliance demands of you.

But here’s the thing:

The top 1% aren’t the most talented — they’re the ones who show up repeatedly

They go into the shed.
They face the discomfort.
They finish.

🔥 You’re a Creative Visionary

You think differently. You feel deeply. You see possibilities others don’t.

That’s not delusion. That’s a creative vision.

Everyone who's done something remarkable believed in a future others couldn’t see — until it became reality.

Delusion isn’t dysfunction.

It’s rebellion against mediocrity you’ve been conditioned to believe is true.

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” — George Bernard Shaw

You’ve been conditioned to play small.

To fit in with a neurotypical society that plays it safe and stays in their lane.

But your creative genius is behind the shed door.

Enter: ✅ Done Club

The $1 Body Doubling Boudoir ( aka accountability sessions)

You don’t need more time.
You need a structure. A sacred container.
A place where your big ideas get executed

Imagine:

• Finishing a task that’s haunted you for months

• Logging off with progress, you can feel

• Reclaiming the self-trust and momentum you lost

Done Club is built for this.

This isn’t for dabblers.

It’s for creative misfits and rebels who are done pretending their vision doesn’t matter.

If you’re ready to build and get out of your way, this is for you.

🛠 How it Works:

• Pay $1

• Get added to a private Substack with a list of scheduled group accountability Zoom sessions.

• Attend live 60-minute body doubling accountability Zoom sessions

• First 5 min: name your task

• Next 55: silent co-working on the shit you’ve been avoiding

🗓 Starts Tuesday, June 23 - July 7th

⏳ Doors open for 48 hours only

This is your reset.
Your identity pivot.
The proof you’ve been waiting to give yourself.

Two Choices:

❌ Stay in the loop:

• Close the tab

• Tell yourself you’ll “come back to it”

✅ Or:

• Pay $1

• Show up

• Do the thing

• Leave proud

Because every time you enter the shed, you choose creativity over avoiding discomfort.

And that is how you live a creative life with purpose and meaning.

Not by hiding from discomfort, but by embracing it with curiosity

BTW, sending this email is uncomfortable for me!

But it’s an experiment, and I’m curious to see how many others are ready to face their discomfort with curiosity.

👉 We’ll meet you at the Shed. Join Done Club for $1

P.S. I’m not trying to shame anyone.

I avoided my shed for decades.

I dimmed my light.
Dumbed myself down. And didn’t embrace my true creative self.

And some days… I still don’t.

Because one of my biggest regrets is not going into my shed…
With a much younger face.

But my truth is I wish I’d read this article decades ago.

Hope this helps.

Peace out ✌️