Hi! Welcome. You being here means more than you know. Knowing it lands with someone like you keeps me going. I'm Lavena Xu-Johnson. I write about psychology for founders. Why? Because scaling a business means scaling ourselves first.
Hi lovely founders,
The past three months have been a lot.
For most of us, we had a mix of momentum, second-guessing, and wondering what comes next. We should always take a step back and appreciate ourselves, and know that it’s alright to feel the unspoken pressure when we’re holding possibilities and uncertainty at the same time.
What I've noticed, in the research and in myself, is that doomscrolling, the urge to move fast, and the slow creep of exhaustion are all wearing the same coat. What's underneath, is a fear of losing control, and our desire to be in control.
Today I want to share 4 pieces from the past few months, each pulling back a different layer: learning to lead without needing certainty first.
🤝 This edition is brought to you by Lightfield
"What did the Acme team say about budget on our last call?" Lightfield pulls the exact quote from the transcript. Your CRM gives you an empty field.
"Draft a follow-up for every prospect who went dark this month — personalized from their actual conversations." Done in minutes.
"Why did we lose the last five deals? What did they have in common?" Cited answers. No spreadsheet required.
Migrate from any CRM in under an hour → Use code INSANEFOUNDER33 for 3 months free.
We partner with a select group of brands we use or admire, which keeps this newsletter free and independent. Reach out for your campaign here.
In case you missed it:
It's not a bad habit. It's your brain trying to resolve uncertainty and getting trapped in a loop it can't exit.
In this piece, I applied the psychological construct of Intolerance of Uncertainty to explore why doomscrolling and rumination are the same compulsion in different forms, and why telling yourself to "put the phone down" doesn't work without addressing what's driving it.
The urgency driving founders isn't always ambition. Sometimes it's anxiety in disguise. A way of outrunning the discomfort of not being in control.
In this piece, I applied Terror Management Theory to founder culture and explored how our awareness of mortality quietly shapes our need for speed, control, and significance, and what it looks like to hold that fear without being run by it.
Criticism is rarely heard as "about the work." In uncertain environments, it becomes a question about belonging.
In this piece, I broke down a 1999 Stanford study on "wise criticism" and explored why the most effective feedback isn't about choosing the right words. It's about making two things explicit at once: the standard, and your belief that the person can meet it.
5 evidence-based ways to sit with not-knowing without it draining your focus, your confidence, or your leadership.
In this piece, I went further into the science of Intolerance of Uncertainty and broke down five clinically validated methods to retrain how your brain responds to ambiguity, because uncertainty tolerance isn't a personality trait. It's a skill.
Uncertainty itself isn't the problem. Your relationship with it is.
If today's essay landed with you, forward it to a founder who needs it. And if you have a question or a topic you'd like me to write about, just reply to this email.
Lavena
P.S. If you want to get a founder feature about your own story, reply to this email. If you’d like to reach our newsletter audience (founders, creators, and marketers), click the button below.
If you’re new here, I’m over the moon you’ve joined us! To help me craft content that’s actually useful (and not just noise in your inbox), I’d love it if you took 1 minute to answer this quick survey below. Your insights help shape everything I write.
✨ Insane Media is more than one voice
Dive into our other newsletters - where psychology meets the creator economy, e-commerce marketing, and Human resources.
