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same draft, fifth day. i kept deleting the first line.. Ben at the kitchen table, a half-written email open on his laptop beside his camera, his thumb scrolling the phone in his other hand with its back to us, a baby monitor and cold coffee at his elbow.
ten people i could ask for work. i couldn't email one.. "they'll think work's dried up.". Ben on the sofa at one in the morning, dark room, his baby asleep on his chest, his phone face down on the armrest, eyes wide open.
NoCrast broke the whole ask into tiny steps. Morning. Ben at the kitchen table holding his phone, a baby bottle by the fruit bowl, the koala sitting beside it and reading the screen with him.
three steps ticked, and the ten emails stopped looking impossible.. Ben holds his phone out to us at the table, shoulders finally down, a handwritten list of names next to his laptop and camera.
ten sent in four days, between feeds. nothing left in drafts.. Evening. Ben leans back with his hands behind his head, all ten names crossed off the paper list, the drafts folder on his laptop empty, the baby monitor glowing softly beside it.
Ben on his balcony at dusk, feet up on the railing, his baby asleep in a carrier on his chest, scrolling with the back of the phone towards us, completely relaxed.
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How I finally emailed my network for work, one tiny step at a time

NoCrast Team
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A NoCrast comic story: Ben, a freelance photographer and new dad, kept deleting the same email. How small steps got all ten sent.

A NoCrast comic story: Ben, a freelance photographer and new dad, and the email asking for work that he kept deleting.

Same draft, fifth day. I kept deleting the first line. The email sat open on my laptop next to my camera. The coffee went cold. The baby monitor was quiet, and my thumb kept scrolling my phone anyway.

I had ten people I could ask for work. Past clients, a couple of editors, friends in the trade. I couldn't email one. The thought kept going round: they'll think work's dried up. At one in the morning I was on the sofa with my baby asleep on my chest and my phone face down on the armrest, wide awake and still writing that first line in my head.

The next morning I typed the goal into NoCrast: email ten people in my network. It broke the whole ask into tiny steps. Write the list of names. Write one short message. Send the first one. Nothing on that list looked scary on its own.

Three steps ticked, and the ten emails stopped looking impossible. There was a handwritten list of names on the table now, not a vague dread.

Ten sent in four days, between feeds. Nothing left in drafts. The hardest part was the first two emails. After that it was just a list, done between naps. That evening I sat on the balcony and scrolled without the guilt.

How to email your network when you're looking for work

  1. Write the names down first, and nothing else. Don't open your email yet. Just list the people you could ask, on paper or in a note. Ten is plenty. This step is only names, so it's hard to get stuck on.

  2. Write one short message you can reuse. Three or four lines: a hello, what you're doing now, that you have room for new work, and a simple way to reply. Don't try for the perfect opening line. A plain, friendly one is enough. Change a sentence for each person, not the whole email.

  3. Send the two easiest ones first. Pick the people you feel warmest about. The first emails are the heaviest, so make them the lightest ones. Once a couple are gone, the rest feels like a list instead of a test.

  4. Turn the big ask into small steps you can finish in a short gap. "Email ten people" is a project. "Send the email to Sam" is a step. In NoCrast you can describe the goal in your own words, and its AI breaks it into small, doable tasks so you always see the next one that's ready to start.

  5. Keep the phone from eating the gaps you have. If your free time comes in short gaps, a scroll can use one up. NoCrast keeps the apps you choose on hold until you finish your step. Each finished step earns screen time on them, so the break after an email is guilt-free.

  6. Cross names off where you can see them. A list that gets shorter keeps you going. If you don't get through it today, that's fine. Pick it up tomorrow from the next name. Who writes back, and what comes of it, is up to them. Sending the email is the part that's yours.

The email you keep deleting usually isn't the problem. Starting it is. Make the first step small enough that you can do it before the coffee goes cold.

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