I think I just figured out life 🤯
I’m 33 years old and I’m writing this article to my younger self.
If I had known when I was younger, what I’m about to write now, I think that my life would have looked very different now.
“Figuring out life” is a big claim, I know, but let me explain.
As a kid, I was dreaming about becoming a professional hockey player. Without knowing what was required of me or how to get there, I simply applied the only strategy I knew of, which was to “work harder”.
I did a lot of running, pushups, and situps to “get in shape”, without really asking myself how that would effectively help me as a hockey player.
I simply thought: “People who succeed, work hard, so if I work hard, I will succeed as well.”
While having this huge monumental goal, I wasn’t the most ambitious or productive person in school. My plan was to play in the NHL (National Hockey League) and earn millions of dollars 💰, so I didn’t see the need to learn about kings, culture, consonants, or chemistry.
As you might have guessed, I never reached NHL.
I did play in NZIHL, (New Zealand IceHockey League,) but that’s another story and a whole other level.
As a grown-up, I eventually started working with another passion of mine; Video editing and digital content creation.
I also started to read more books. 📚
Every book about productivity, focus, sleep, or creating habits caught my attention.
Eventually, after years of postponing, I started freelancing.
By this time, I had finally (and reluctantly) at the age of 30 given up on my dream to become a professional hockey player, and I was now going “all in” on my career as a video creator.
I quickly realized that my new endeavor was going to be very different.
Compared to professional hockey players, video creators don’t have an “estimated expiry date” around the age of 40, and you’re not required to start practicing at the age of 5 either, in order to stand a chance to reach a financially professional level within your lifetime.
A less active interest like video creation does benefit from a good sleeping pattern and a healthy lifestyle, but not on the same scale as for a professional hockey player.
(ONE injury could also ruin your whole career as a hockey player.)
So when I was 30(!), I started to build my own YouTube channel.
I am now 33 years old and I have 7728 subscribers and over 100 000 views per month on my channel.
The biggest reason for this growth comes from a simple decision I do daily;
That decision is what I wish I knew sooner and it’s the reason why I’m writing this article.
You might have heard about the metaphor for life, that it is like a jar filled with rocks. 🪨
If the jar represents life and you want to get the most out of it, you should start filling it with rocks, then gravel, then sand, and lastly water.
The rocks represent the big important things in life, the gravel is the medium important things, the sand is the not-so-important things, and the water is the remaining (mostly unnecessary) things.
The problem with this parable is that the “important things” are not defined. It’s up to each and every one of us to figure that out.
When defining the important things in life, you might base the grading of the different things/tasks/areas on outside expectations rather than your inner desire, passions, and interests.
What do your parents want? What does your teacher want? What does society want?
A common mistake is, for example, to prioritize “urgent” tasks over “important” tasks.
It’s a very easy mistake to do, and I think we all do it from time to time, because the negative effect of postponing important tasks is often not instant, while the negative effect of not doing the urgent task is.
So, what’s “important”?
I think THAT is the million-dollar question, and that’s what I’ve struggled with (or sometimes misunderstood) throughout my life.
I also think that it’s easy to get confused in your daily life and mix up the “big rocks” with the “big tasks”.
Just because a task is small and easy doesn’t always mean it’s less important.
An example of this for a freelancer could be a marketing task. Writing a LinkedIn post might go faster than doing a big task for a client, therefore it can easily get postponed (or eliminated due to time restraints).
If postponing marketing tasks happens too many times, you might lose valuable reach and brand-building effect (which in the long run will decrease your lead generation and therefore also the number of acquired customers).
A very small effect negative when doing it once, but it compounds over time.
On the other hand, postponing client work for one day (or maybe just one hour) is, most of the time, not a problem (as long as it is communicated ahead of time and the deadlines are met).
Delaying an hour of a big (but less important) task can a lot of times easily be done frictionless, while it might have a long-term negative effect to postpone small routine tasks (like workouts, meditation, walks, reading, and posting on social media).
1h of video editing per day or 7h of video editing every 7:th days can have the same outcome. (Sometimes doing it all in one day can even be better.)
…but 1h of “self-care” every day (working out + showering + meditating) for example, is way better than working out 7 times in one day, showering 7 times in one day, and meditating 7 hours in one day.
A possible schedule:
Mon: 🏋🚿🧘♀👨💻👨💻👨💻👨💻👨💻👨💻👨💻 Tue: 🏋🚿🧘♀ Wed: 🏋🚿🧘♀ Thu: 🏋🚿🧘♀️️ Fri: 🏋🚿🧘♀ Sat: 🏋🚿🧘♀ Sun: ️️️🏋🚿🧘♀
An alternative schedule:
Mon: 👨💻 Tue: 👨💻 Wed: 👨💻 Thu: 👨💻🏋🏋🏋🏋🏋🏋🏋️️ Fri: 👨💻 Sat: 👨💻🚿🚿🚿🚿🚿🚿🚿 Sun: 👨💻🧘♀🧘♀🧘♀🧘♀🧘♀🧘♀🧘♀️️️
Both alternatives have the same amount of tasks but the first alternative is obviously way more impactful than the second one.
When I realized this, it suddenly made sense to me why so many successful people have similar habits.
They get up early ⏰, they workout in the morning, 🏋️ they drink a smoothie, 🧋 they take a shower, 🚿 they “dress for success”, 👔 they read 10 pages, 📖 they write 2 books, 📚 they start 3 companies, 💪 they meditate, 🧘♀️ and THEN they “start their day”.
(Maybe a bit exaggerated, but you get the point) 😉
The takeaway here is that they prioritize themselves.
These people know exactly WHAT they should do, WHEN they should do it, and WHY they should do it.
The solution here is not to simply copy someone's schedule, but to find inspiration to create your own recipe for success (however you define success in your life).
And if you really think about it, the day doesn’t start whenever you do your first “financially compensated task”, it starts the day before, the week before, or even the year before, when you set the structure, define your priorities, and plan ahead.
ℹ️ But before you do this, ask yourself what you can eliminate, that shouldn't even be in your calendar at all, and then what you can automate or outsource of the remaining things.
After those steps, it’s time to plan and streamline your days and life.
So…
What it comes down to is to define what’s important for YOU, WHY it is important, and HOW it will affect your life in the long run. Then translate that into actionable steps and plan your life according to that.
Act on life rather than react to life.
What’s more important; To make the most amount of money tomorrow, or to see the most amount of progress in your lifetime, feel more joy throughout the journey, deliver better results for your clients, eat healthier, take good care of your body (so that you can live longer), and be a better and more present partner, child, and parent?
The saying that “Life is short” is bullshit. 💩 Life is (most of the time) extremely long, so plan accordingly and don’t be afraid of dreaming big 💭, but then make sure your actions are mapping to your desired outcome.
Was this article helpful? I would love to hear if you agree with me or not in the comment section below, so please drop a comment! 💬 🙂
…and then, start redesigning your life! 👩🎨
3 other stories that might interest you: ⭐️ 5 tips for making money on YouTube (How to get started today!) ⭐️ 25 things I learned during my first year as a Video Editor ⭐️ Overcoming imposter syndrome as a Content Creator
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