The Overlooked Secret To Being An Anomaly
People who make big impact don’t have lives that look like everyone else’s.
I keep having to remind myself that not everyone on Instagram is actually on vacation—because that’s what it looks like.
People who make big impact don’t have habits that look like everyone else’s.
I keep having to remind myself that you are what you eat, read, watch, and do.
Extraordinary is exactly that, out of the ordinary.
If you want to be an anomaly, you need to act like one.
2 Minute Action
Whats something you’re doing that looks average or common?How about purchasing habits, time watching TV, or your investment portfolio?
Take 2 minutes to:
Delete a subscription you don’t actually need.Commit to 1 week of replacing your TV time with action time.Inquire about a Vanguard Roth IRA.These are just examples. I’m just asking you questions and giving examples so you can ask yourself these questions and come up with your own examples next time.
This App You’re Using Is No Better Than CDROM
Have you seen this one in every hotel?
Control this TV with your phone
The benefit of the app can’t be that it replaces the remote. The remote works just fine. Why do we need to replace it?
If we’re going to build an app, it should be doing more than the remote. It should beat the remote.
The magic of an app can’t be that the same capabilities of the remote are now on a shiny screen!
We already went through that!
That was CDROM in the 90s!
How is that better?
A lot of resources go into technology products and if we’re developing with a lean mindset, this product really needs to justify why it exists.
That product really needs to justify why it took so many developer hours and venture capital.
There are a few times it’s okay to invest in something to achieve “feature parity.”
Feature parity just means that the new thing has the same capabilities or features as the old version.
This can be okay but only under certain conditions, like when it enables you to build more or better future features at less cost or more stability or by using less computer processing hours.
That’s an investment. That’s justified.
Having a lean mindset means that tasks, features, and innovations are all fighting for their lives to stay on your task list.
2 Minute Action
You have a list of things to do?
Great.
Spend 2 minutes right now, going top to bottom.
Everything must fight for its life to stay on the list.
Good questions to ask:
What might happen if I put this off?
What might happen if I never finish this?
Get 5 Extra Hours In Your Day
Actually, it's more than 5 hours.
Neilson has reported that in 2016, the average American watched over 5 hours of TV per day.Now multiply that by the ~300 million people in the country.That's 1.5 billion man/hrs that could have been spent doing something useful.We could build cities, discover cures, or even just get 6 pack abs.Maybe it's not TV for you--so what is it?What is the thing that's so hard to give up? The thing you think you need to relax, unwind, unplug?What would happen if someone took it away? Would you die a slow and painful death?Probably not.
2 Minute Action:
Since we're moving from TV to our smart devices . . .Unlock your smartphone and check your battery settings.On an iPhone: Settings > BatteryThen check how much power you've used (or screentime you've logged) in the last 24 hours and in the last week. The results may surprise you.Try deleting one app from your phone for a week. Just one week.If you don't explode, maybe you might have the time to think about the life you really want to be living.