The Reason We’re Not All Billionaires With Six Pack Abs
It’s hard to be useful every day.
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% of them, today.
Big, hairy, audacious goals are actually made up of lots of smaller, actionable goals.
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, anyway.
One of the lessons I’ve learned over and over is to stop getting in my own way.
I’m not perfect. I’m writing this post because I do it, too. It’s part of being a human.
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.
Consciously or non-consciously, if you’re avoiding things because they feel too big to tackle, it’s up to you to break them up into smaller pieces.
It’s not uncommon — but it’s still your responsibility to call yourself out.
As the LEGO® in the title image suggests, this idea is transferrable to many other parts of life.
Also, quick aside: this may be the only Medium post ever written where the title image has some really clear relation to the content.
The Punchline
The issue isn’t that we don’t save money or put it in the right index fund.
The issue is that we didn’t start early enough.
The issue isn’t that we can’t bench 225lbs or run a marathon.
The issue is that we aren’t at the gym every day, pushing our current limits.
I’m being hyperbolic when I say billionaire, but I think you get the point. The point is that we will never reach our goals if we don’t start small.
Here are some ways you can start small today:
If you also have “big eyes,” take at least 1 thing OFF your to-do list, today. (If every task has to fight for its life to stay on your list, it’s easier to be sure that you’re working on the most important stuff)
If you have a huge task, break it into smaller pieces. (Maybe “learn Spanish” is too big. Maybe, “learn to conjugate in the present tense” is better)
No matter what, do 2 minutes of exercise. Planks, pushups, burpees. (I bet you can’t do planks, pushups, or burpees for 2 minutes straight)
“A year from now, you’ll wish you’d started today.”
-Karen Lamb
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If you didn’t like it, please comment and let me know so I can improve my writing. Improving requires putting your ego aside. :)