The Reason We're Not All Billionaires With 6-Pack Abs
It's hard to be useful every day.It's hard to do something impactful every day.Sometimes it's just hard to do anything, at all.
And of course, we all know that if it were easy, we'd all be billionaires with 6-pack abs.
Still, that doesn't always motivate us to start or to keep going.
The easiest way to change our inertia or to keep our pace is to make the task smaller.
Fine, don't run 5 miles at a 7 min/mile pace. Run 2 miles at a 10 min/mile pace.Fine, don't make 150 phone calls. Make 65.Fine, don't write letters to all your students. Just do 30%, today.
There are at least two strange and productive things that happen when we break things into small chunks.
- We maintain momentum and we're more likely to pick up where we left off later.
- We are more likely to do more than we set out to.
One of the lessons I've learned over and over is to stop getting in my own way.This is such a great example.I get big eyes! I bite off more than I can chew. I dream so big and I want to make so many great things happen, that I run the risk of getting nothing done because I spread myself too thin.It's not uncommon.
2 Minute Action
Here are some options for today:
- If you also have "big eyes," take at least 1 thing off your to-do list, today.
- If you have a huge task, break it into smaller pieces.
- No matter what, do 2 minutes of exercise. Planks, pushups, burpees. You have 2 minutes and you won't get sweaty.
If taking on too much sounds like you, reply here and let me know.We have to look out for each other.Let's make a ruckus, today.
4 Unintuitive Ways To Be Useful To People
One of my favorite humans, Derek Sivers, has a phenomenal talent.
It's not just that he's good at software.And it's not that he's built a huge following of fans.It's not even that he's articulate and kind and an all-around good person.Probably my favorite thing about him is how he distills complexity into palatable, pithy nuggets.It might be the single most useful thing in today's day and age.We're living in the "Age of Distraction," more than the "Information Age."Think about it, you get my email, along with how many others? Too many to count.The problem isn't having the information, it's knowing useful information from useless information. This is where Sivers adds a ton of value.Just like my list of 11 Rules That Will Change Your Life Forever, he's spent his whole lifetime (so far) breaking down concepts, books, ideas, and strategies into digestible chunks. Admittedly, he's truly a master of this.Here's his list of ways to be useful. I was surprised at how much I agree with him on some of these.
How To Be Useful To Others
- Get Famous. Do everything in public and for the public. The more people you reach the more useful you are. The opposite is hiding, which is of no use to anyone.
- Get Rich. Money is neutral proof that you're adding value to people's lives. So, by getting rich, being useful is a side effect. Once rich, spend the money in ways that are useful to others, then getting rich is doubly useful.
- Share strong opinions. Strong opinions are very useful to others. Those who are undecided or ambivalent can just adopt your stance, but those who disagree can solidify their stance by arguing against yours. So even if you invent an opinion for the sole sake of argument, sharing a strong opinion is very useful to others.
- Be expensive. People, when given a placebo pill, where twice as likely to say the pill worked when told that pill was expensive. People who paid more for tickets were more likely to attend the performance. So people who spend more for a product or service value it more and get more use out of it.
Whoa.I didn't see all of that coming, did you?
2 Minute Action:
Is what you're doing useful? Do you want it to be?Reply here with one of these rules that resonated with you and another that really surprised you.And then (the most important part) write why you might be feeling this way.