Today I’ll dare you to start something. If you invested 30 minutes each day this week, and it would make you feel, happier, more fulfilled, excited and perhaps set you off on a trajectory that would change your life – would you do it?
It’s with that kind of anticipation I’m throwing myself into next week’s challenge, where we once more will face our fears, grow and move towards a life lived on our conditions. A life of freedom. Because by putting up weekly personal development challenges we make sure to gradually move towards that vision.
And this time it’s going to be all about pushing that ignition button. Putting in some time and focused effort into that thing you’ve been thinking about for so long, but just haven’t got around to do anything about. Starting – or even restarting – a project. Whether it’s learning how to play an instrument, deciding to meet someone, building a homepage, starting a business – I’m sure you’ve got something in mind that just hasn’t been happening.
The thing is, we get caught in everyday life and reaction mood – acting on what’s screaming the most in front of us. But what we must remember is that these tickling thoughts and ideas floating around in the back of our heads are tremendously important to our wellbeing and sense of feeling fulfilled. Living purposefully.
But I don’t have time? Well, It comes down to prioritization, as Tim Ferris said, If you don’t have time, you don’t have priorities. We need to trust the benefit of investing time in something that might not have any quantifiable measurable outcome. Sometimes we just have to do the things that can’t logically be reasoned for. Or even if doesn’t seem like it at surface level, take a chance and risk our most precious good – time.
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.
Enough talking, the objectives of the week is going to be super simple and straightforward.
- At least on 30 minutes each day – Monday through Friday – sit down to work on your project. I could give a ton of general tips and ideas for how to approach this, but I think that will just overwhelm and have an opposite effect. So instead I’ll leave you with these three general tips.
- SCHEDULE IT. 30 minutes each day, put it in the calendar and decide when, where and what you’re going to do! For me, first thing when I get home after work. Then reward – food.
- Decide what kind of outcome you’re aiming for. Is it just practice time with the guitar, is it doing 5 tutorials for web design, or perhaps outlining a 6-month strategy – just have some kind of goal so you know in what direction to go for. And if the goal is to not have any goal and just have fun – then that’s your goal! It primes the expectation levels, and feeling good about something almost always have to do with what you’re expecting to get out of it.
- FIND THE EXPERTS. Look to the experts and try to break down possible actions to the ones that give the most bang for the buck. YouTube ‘The Parreto principle’ if you don’t know what the 80/20-rule is. Spoiler – it’s golden.
So that’s it! For me this week is going to be all about relaunching my channel. Thinking through my strategy and plan for what i want out of this, and how I’m going to go about getting that. I can’t remember the last time I was this excited about something. Now, this -challenge is actually going to stretch over 2 weeks, because that’s the time I need for this to be done properly. But I’ll keep you updated with at least one video.
Social commitment is golden – so let me know what you’re doing down there in the comments. AND if you do want any specific tips, let me know – I’ve got tons to give!
Have a great week,
/Alexander
The Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford Commencement Address VIDEO: https://youtu.be/UF8uR6Z6KLc
