Welcome to The Friends Theory, where we use classic sitcom moments to reframe modern life.

This week: a nod to Halloween, creative courage, weird ideas, and why every “space doody” moment might just be your GO FOR LAUNCH.

3-minute read. Potato included. 🥔

The One Where It Ain’t Doody.

Insights from “The One With the Halloween Party,” Season 8, Episode 6

🎬 Picture it:
It’s Halloween at Monica and Chandler’s.
The gang’s in full costume: superheroes, bunnies, Catwoman, and Rachel…in a dress.

Enter Ross.
He’s wearing a potato, and a colander….with an antennae.

Silence.

Chandler: “Wow. I don’t have the worst costume anymore.”
Joey: “Hey all right, Ross came as doody!”
Monica, helpfully: “No, space doody.”

But then Mona walks in.
She sees him, tilts her head and grins.

And just like that: one person got it.
Everyone else saw doody.
Mona saw potential.

You see, in every idea, there’s a Mona—the believer—and a whole crowd of Chandlers & Joey’s rolling their eyes.

And spoiler: they’re all you, living inside your head.

Ever Been Here?

You have an idea, maybe it’s wild, maybe it’s just….different.

It doesn’t fit the typical mould, it makes zero sense a lot of people, and even you can’t quite explain it without hand gestures and a diagram.

And inside your head?
There’s a chaotic Halloween party happening:

• Ross: The originator. “This is genius!”

• Chandler: The cynic. “You’re kidding, right?”

• Monica: The perfectionist, straightening your colander.

• Joey: The chaos voice that just says “doody.”

• Mona: The believer. The one who gets it.

The twist?
They’re all you.

Every single one.

The self-doubt.
The compassion.
The wild optimism.
The “oh my God what if this actually works?”

You can’t evict the others….but you can choose who gets the mic.

My Spudnik Moment

Recently, my brain’s been believing it’s Halloween every day.

Why? Because I have an idea:
I want to build what the cool kids are calling a portfolio business, aka, multiple streams of income. But, I also want creative freedom, autonomy, to work fewer hours, have fun and make a lot of money doing it. 😁

And I want to grow this newsletter into a world-dominating media house (lol... but not really lol).

Is it ridiculous? Absolutely.
Is it possible? Maybe?
Am I doing it anyway? Hell yes.

Because every idea starts in disguise.
You never really know if you’re wearing genius or doody until you try it on and walk into the room.

And here’s the part that matters most. I’m not doing it alone.
I have people who believe in me. Who remind me what’s possible on the days I forget.
They’re my real-life Monas. The ones who see the Spudnik under the big brown potato.

Someone has to believe in the idea before it’s obvious.
And if that someone is me…amazing.
But if I’ve got others in my corner too? Even better.

A Little Science-y Sprinkle

Psychologist Albert Bandura called it self-efficacy: the belief that you can figure it out, even if you don’t have all the answers.
It’s not confidence, necessarily. It’s commitment. Determination.
And, most importantly, it’s the difference between quitting halfway through and finding your Mona moment.

Every “Spud-nik” idea starts as self-doubt wearing a potato.
Belief is what gets it off the ground.

Try This On - It Ain’t Doody

So, how do you hand the mic to the part of you that believes when everyone (including you) thinks you’re out of your mind?

Start here:

🎤 1. Name your cast.
Who’s running the show in your head? The Chandler who doubts, the Monica who perfects, or the Mona who believes? Awareness gives you choice.

🔁 2. Run the experiment.
Don’t wait for certainty. Take action while you’re still unsure. Confidence follows evidence, not the other way around.

💭 3. Rehearse belief.
Pretend you already know this weird idea will work. (You’ll be shocked how fast your brain plays along.)

Because you can’t silence your inner Chandlers…but you can fade out their mic.

That quiet hum that’s left?
That’s the sound of belief.

Final Thought

Pretty much every idea starts out as doody.
But the trick isn’t to prove everyone wrong. It’s to keep showing up long enough to prove yourself right.

Ross didn’t win exactly excel that Halloween.
But he showed up wearing a potato called himself a satellite, and got the girl who saw him.

So give your idea a shot. Yes, even if it looks like space doody.
Because sometimes, what starts as weird ends up in outer space.

See you next Thursday,
Lucy xx
AKA Queen of the Reframe

P.S. If you're thinking about dressing as doody for Halloween, start here👇

Thanks for reading The Friends Theory. I appreciate you so much ❤️