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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The Fastest Way To An Idea
The bar is low.
Most people are boring, uncreative, and have a hard time thinking of others' needs.But not you.
You work harder than that.
You can go out of your way to make someone feel welcome.You can go out of your way to stand out.You can go out of your way to make people remember who you are.All you need is to start.You don't even need the idea.How? Try this . . .
2 Minute Action
The fastest way to get an idea?Google it.I'm not kidding. Someone else has probably thought of this before and has written 10 articles on it.The best part is that this generally helps spark other ideas.And that's the punch line.The hard part of getting something started isn't the idea . . . it's usually getting past the thought that you can't come up with an idea.Once you can outsmart or outwork yourself, you're really onto something.
3 Small Reminders That Will Make You Relentless
It’s easy to be incapacitated by the hugeness of your dreams.Its just as easy to be incapacitated by the lack of huge dreams.If you’re serious about achieving your goal, you have to take a step back and clarify a few things:
1. Define the fantasy
Are you really sure that starting a non-profit is the way to your happiness? Did you know that you’ll have to put together a board and then THEY will be in control of your company?It might take some challenging to figure out if your fantasy of the perfect future is actually what you want.
2. Do the work
There is no substitute for hustle. Commit to something and see it through. When you’re done, assess what you should keep doing and what you should improve. Don’t start working again until you have a new hypothesis to test.
3. Make the work smaller
Most people bite off more than they can chew. It’s pretty normal, especially in American work culture. Make the steps smaller and more fun to accomplish and you will have a positive feedback loop that will lock you into a behavior pattern that will increase the chances of success.That’s it.You will read about tricks and tips and tactics and strategy and how to make your website better and how to get cheaper leads and how to write better . . .. . . and it’s up to you to stay focused.Its simple, not easy.You already know what to do.Just start.
2 Minute Action:
I firmly believe that everyone has 2 minutes to do something in a day. There is no excuse for not having 2 minutes.If your next step is too big, I challenge you to break it down into smaller pieces.”Start a non-profit” sounds like it would take more than 2 minutes—but “set up a call with my friend who works at a non-profit” is much smaller.“How to file for a non-profit” is a quick Google search.Looking up “pros and cons of a non-profit” takes 2 minute sor less to get a quick idea.Today, I’m asking you:What is your 2 minute action?What could you do today that only takes 2 minutes and can move your forward.It can be as small as you want—you just have to do it.If you still don’t want to take action and you know it only takes 2 minutes, it’s your job to figure out what other excuse you might have.More on that, later.This post took you about 2 minutes to read, so remember that when your brain starts feeding you excuses.