Even if you’re not where you want to be now

Success is a lagging measure.

All those folks that you see at the peak of their careers right now have everything to do with what they were doing 3-5 years ago. So the question becomes:

“What can I be doing right now that will set me up for success in 5 years?”

Let’s dive in.

Read also: 40 very short tiny habits that will quietly transform your life

1. Invest in your idea (time > money)

Most people have an idea but they spend five minutes telling you about it and that’s it. If you want big things to happen, you have to spend time on your idea.

2. Rebuild a relationship with failure

Failure is a forcing function. Most people fear it so much they don’t try. Then of the people that do, most experience it once, and have such a negative experience that they never try again.

If you can reimagine your relationship with failure, you’ll have the upper hand, here’s how to think about it:

• Expect it to happen
• When it does, coexist with it
• Failure allows the contrast between success
• Usually, the fear is greater than the experience
• Failure is just a metric, it’s your interpretation that adds emotion

Repeat over and over when it happens, it gets less scary.

3. Commit to the daily practice

Daily practice is a discipline and an investment. Each day that you show up and try, is a day you’re getting better. Doing it each day solidifies the importance of this thing to you, over time it’ll become part of you. And then you won’t be able to stop.

4. Audit your week on Sunday with a ‘Happy-Path’ Review

One hour on a Sunday is all you need for a decent review. Most people won’t do this because they tell themselves they don’t have the time. In actual fact, it’s the biggest ROI of the week.

Spending time reflecting on the week allows you to identify your problems and solve them. Many people stay stuck in their problems for way too long and then don’t make the progress they want.

5. Read books that help you with ‘today problems’

It’s easy to buy all the books your hero recommends. Most people buy books and don’t read them.

Of the people that do, they’re reading books (great) but they’re not the right books. Instead, there is a better way:

• Identify the problems you have
• Find the books that will solve them
• Implement the solutions & reflect on what worked

Use books to solve ‘today problems’.

6. Walk through ideas

Surface ideas are cheap. Most ideas that you have just by thinking likely came from somewhere else, something you read or something you watched.

Taking an idea on a walk levels up that idea and allows you to think deeper than your first thought.

7. Go beyond obvious content

I wrote a whole article on this. Develop the discipline to go beyond the obvious content into providing incredible value to your reader.

8. Watch nature

Take time out of your day to just watch. Watch how the birds fly, the trees sway and the leaves rustle. It has a way of calming your mind, that’s when the good stuff happens.

9. Cultivate self-belief with evidence

The best way to build self-belief is to find evidence that you are capable. Root through your past and find stories of where you did the things you said you would. Use that as evidence that you can. That’s your fuel.

10. Understand opportunity cost

The time spent making a decision is time not spent thinking about something else. That time you’ll never get back. If it’s a small decision, make it and move on. You can’t avoid wasting any thinking time.

11. Craft an abundance mindset

A scarcity mindset builds a habit of pessimism. That will cripple you in the long run.

12. Aim for your dream lifestyle, not milestones

Whenever you ask anyone about their goals without fail people will list milestones. To make ‘x’, to get ‘y’. Nobody ever talks about what their day would look like.

Yet, most time is spent in the ordinary mundane stuff. The dream lifestyle is about figuring out how you want to spend your days, not stuff you want to accumulate.

13. Adapt your approach based on analysis

Use data to change your path. Review it often, learn from it and implement new ideas based on it.

14. Calculate your Dream Lifestyle Money ‘DLM’

Ask yourself ‘how much do I need to live my dream life?’ You’ll realise it’s probably less than you think. So you can work on how you get there without feeling overwhelmed.

15. Construct mental models to assist decision making

Most think through decisions but they don’t have the framework to structure that thinking. Mental models help you organise your thinking to make better decisions. George Mack is the best in the business.

16. Document your learnings

Write your learnings down. Every now and then come back to them and realise how far you’ve come.

17. Experiment with ideas

Using experiments as a framework to test ideas removes the fear of failure. An experiment by nature accepts that failure is part of the game. Use experiments to test ideas and build a better business.

Read also: This is how to reboot your life and start over

18. Learn the power of reframing

Two people can experience the same day, one could think it’s the best day ever, the other the worst thing in the world. The power is in the framing.

19. Do the things you said you would

If there’s one thing to take away from this article it’s this. Do the things you said you would. At the start, keep the ‘to-do’ list light but just work on doing the things you said you would. Build a reputation with yourself that your word means something.

You can genuinely change your life in a year if you want to. If I had to go back to the start, these would be the things I’d work on.

Contributed by Eve Arnold

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