The LEGO® Productivity Secret You Didn't Know Existed
Do you remember building with LEGO® when you were a kid? Do you remember any lessons? I bet you read this headline and said: "No one gave ME no LEGO® productivity secret!"
Here's why . . .
There's this strange notion that taking on big challenges is how people achieve big things.
Of course, this is ridiculous.
People who are shooting to be the next Google, Facebook, or Apple are thinking big--but they're not thinking of the practical approach to getting there.
Stop thinking it's "will power."
Stop thinking it's your ability to execute.
Stop thinking you don't have the right shoes, camera, laptop, pen, climbing rope, bicycle, car engine, or professional network.
Almost no one started with all that.
No one builds a huge, 1000 piece LEGO® castle by looking at the box and making it happen with just some good ol' fashioned elbow grease.
They use instructions that break the build down into small, achievable chunks.
It's not about huge willpower. It's about writing your own LEGO® instructions and breaking things down into actionable and achievable pieces.
It's less about you committing to some huge goal and it's more about making a small commitment to a reasonable goal.
Exercise is another really good example.
"The hard part about going to the gym is putting your shorts on."
- Chris' Dad
Thanks, dad.
It's less about facing some huge challenge and it's more about tricking yourself into smaller challenges.
It's these smaller challenges, when pieced together, that make the whole LEGO® build.
Okay, so how do we pull out this LEGO® productivity secret from all this?
Understand: Achieving what you want is not about going after the whole big picture, it's about building repeatable systems, made up of small achievable tasks, that make you happy when you complete them.
Successful people are not magical.
Successful people are a combination of protocol and opportunity.
2 Minute Action:
What is a goal you have?
Let's just say it's running a marathon.
How do you go from couch to 26.2?
- Register for the race.
- Lookup a training plan.
- Find someone who will run with you even when it's cold and raining outside.
These are all things you can do today, pretty quickly.
You don't have to run 26.2 miles right now. In fact, that's a terrible idea. You'll hurt yourself and never want to try again.
No matter what your goal is, I challenge you to find something you can do to move forward in 2 minutes or less.
When you string together all of these small actions, you arrive at your protocol or system for getting things done.
That's the LEGO® productivity secret.
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[SERIES] 6/7 Unpopular Belief: Get Famous
Famous people are frauds.Famous people are vain.Famous people are selfish.This is post 6 of 7 Unpopular Beliefs Series.
Get Famous!
Influence is power.
We discussed how money can be useful in making change in part 1.Influence is just as powerful.Marketers use celebrities to advertise their products.Why? Because we trust them. We've built a relationship with celebrities over the course of their careers.I'm including politicians in this, as well.The more people you spread your message to, the more you can help people.
"The opposite of getting famous is hiding."- Derek Sivers
Mass media is mass communication.
Fred Rogers did it.Jim Henson did it.Sesame Workshop does it all the time.Getting famous means mastering media and communicating your message. Getting famous means being a practitioner of influence, not merely a wielder of it.
2 Minute Action
What networks do you have now?Instagram? Snapchat? Facebook? LinkedIn? Twitter?For me, it's email.What's your message?Today is a great day to publish a random act of kindness or a resource that can help people.And what's great is that it doesn't need to take more than 2 minutes.
Read This If You Think It’s Too Late For You
I posted on Facebook a little while ago about what people wished they’d been taught in school.
Among the most popular responses were:
- Personal Finance
- Mental Health
- Social Skills
Regardless of whether or not any of these resonate with you, just think of something that DOES resonate with you.Bring that into focus right now.
The point here is that it’s too late.
It’s too late for you because you’re not in school anymore.The good news is that if you’re reading this, you probably have a computer, a phone, and an internet connection.
So, although it’s too late for school, it’s not too late for your education.
“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is right now.” — Chinese Proverb
2 Minute Action
It will take you 2 minutes or less to sign up for a finance class, find an online counselor, join a local running club, or to start any of the things you wish they’d taught you in school.You have everything you need to make this happen.It’s just up to you and how much you care.