What Is The Highest Impact Activity You Can Do Right Away?
Think Big, Start Small, Conduct An Experiment, And Learn Fast
In this article, I will introduce you to a powerful way of thinking about your work and progress. I have applied this mindset to achieve multiple streams of income and follow my passions. Since the pandemic, I have created much more than I have ever dreamed of — all thanks to this mindset. Apply this mindset to create your own mindmap and to create your own renaissance. As you read on, create your own notes and reflections. Make sure you write your ideas down in your own journal to make these ideas concrete and useful for yourself. If you apply these ideas rigorously, you will be wildly successful in bringing your vision to life.
Are you ready to start?
Think of yourself after 10 years. What would your future self tell you? What advice and suggestions would your future self provide you? You need to create a list of strategic actions that you can do now. Which actions would be endorsed by your future self? What are the things that you truly care about? What will make you truly happy and productive? What will the world look like when your vision has fully manifested? What are the things that you want to accomplish before you die? What are the things that you can do now so that your future self in 10 years will be proud of you? You can create your own renaissance in ten years. Write down your list of ideas now.
After you make your list, you are now closer to your big vision. The steps to get there will become more obvious when you start vividly imagining your desired outcomes. What do you need to do now so that you are progressing towards this vision? What is the highest impact activity you can do right away? Write it down and do it now. In fact, you have 10 seconds to do it. If you do not act in 10 seconds, your brain will stop you. You will create excuses. That is why acting now is paramount. Remember that you only have the present (not tomorrow) and the present is a gift to you. You can make the most of it only if you take an action.
What is your top priority now? You can not have more than three priorities on any given day. In fact, it is better if you focus on your number one priority now and forget about the rest. Keep it simple. Have a bias towards action. This will give you a laser focus.
If you are overwhelmed with a project, ask yourself a simple question: “What is the simplest way to do this right now?” If you had only one shot, what would you try? Do it now and see what happens. Even if you fail, you will turn it into a learning opportunity to get better and try it again.
This is how you make progress on your life goals and vision: Act now, start small, conduct an experiment, try it out, see what happens, learn fast, iterate, and improve your action each time.
Do not give up on your big dreams. Dare to dream big, but be ready to act small and make a very small dent in your big goals.
For example, I want to write several books, but writing a book in English is too overwhelming, too scary, and too complicated for me. That is why I decided to write consistently on Medium every day or every few days. This method allowed me to make rapid progress towards my big vision. Having published 395 articles on Medium, I have now achieved momentum in my writing goals. I can easily see multiple ebooks or digital products being created out of my Medium library. It is just a matter of revising, remixing, improvising, and mashing up what I have already created. I feel I am progressing well and I am now much closer to my bigger vision: Creating and publishing multiple digital books on topics that I am passionate about.
To be successful, you need to dream big, start small, and act now. Break your vision into small manageable chunks, and complete these small chunks one by one. You will be testing your ideas and improving your skills along the way. That is how progress happens. You need to give yourself a lot of opportunities for experimentation and failure.
If you want to fail, you need to think small. You need to be anxious all the time and not let yourself take any risks. You will create countless plans, but you will never act on them. You will wait for the perfect time to act, and that perfect time almost never comes. That is how you fail: You just stop yourself because of anxiety, complacency, or fear. You are easily overwhelmed and annoyed, so you give up on your big vision. You become reactive, passive, and jealous over time because you have never tried to go full-on with your vision, nor have you actualized your true potential.
So, ask yourself this question every morning: What can you do right now, that requires the smallest amount of effort, and will have the largest amount of impact? If you figure it out and act on it every day, you will be in a much better position in just a couple of years.
Using this mindset since the pandemic, I created 610 YouTube videos, 395 Medium articles, and 700 pages of doodle artwork. I have transformed my life in just 20 months, and I feel I am still in the earliest stages of my journey of asset creation:
When it gets hard, ask yourself the question Tim Ferriss always asks: “What would this look like if it were easy?” Do not overcomplicate your work. If looking at a task brings up feelings of overwhelm, anxiety, or fear, consider it a clue that you are making it harder than it needs to be. How can you make things easier? What is the simplest thing that you can do now to accelerate the process? Can you find new ways to unstuck yourself? How can you reframe setbacks as opportunities for learning and improvement? How can you flow with your business? How can you simplify your way of doing things? How can you achieve focus and momentum? How can you make things more enjoyable by inducing a sense of play? What would things look like if they were easy?
What can you do now, that requires the smallest amount of effort, and that will generate the largest amount of impact? Do not overwork or keep yourself busy. When you are busy, you are engaging in meaningless activities. Keep it simple and act now. Follow your heart and focus on the single thing that matters now. Doing only one thing consistently over time is so much more powerful than trying to do a thousand pointless things. Eliminate the unessential things from your life, so that you can focus your attention on the one thing that really matters.
What is the one thing that really matters today? Why? You need to always figure out your why. Your ‘why’ will get you fired up and give you a reason to persist even when you run out of inspiration. No one feels like doing the work 100% of the time. That is why you need to ask yourself why you truly care about this goal.
Allocate time in your calendar for thinking and dreaming about your vision. This will be your big-picture thinking time — keep it sacred and cherish it. Ask yourself big questions that matter to you. Write down your reflections and your answers to these questions in a journal. What are the big opportunities that you are able to tackle? Divide your big vision into specific smaller goals that are manageable. Give yourself deadlines to achieve these smaller goals. Start small and act now in the pursuit of these goals.
Remember: You want to take control of your future. You want to follow your passions and curiosities. You want to make the most use of your skills and creativity. Then, the best way forward for you is to create your creative assets. The only time you have is right now. You need to create like there is no tomorrow. Creating your creative assets is the best way forward to be happy, productive, and rich in your life. What do you care about? What do you wish to create? Do you want to write a book? Do you want to establish your own online business? Do you want to create your YouTube channel? Do you want to create your Instagram brand? Do you want to create your music? Start acting on it today. Start it right now — like in 10 seconds. The only time you have it is right now. Your life is short and you might not have another chance tomorrow. The only day you have it is today.
Takeaways:
- Think big. Dare to dream big dreams.
- Start small. Divide your big vision into small and achievable chunks. Small is beautiful. Keep things small, clear, and simple.
- Do not wait. Start now. You have 10 seconds to act on your vision.
- Start today. Create like there is no tomorrow.
- Life is too short for perfectionism, worry, stress, and anxiety. Allow yourself to create crappy work. Do not take yourself too seriously. Allow yourself to make mistakes.
- What is the highest-impact activity you can do right away?
- What are the things that you can do now so that your future self in 10 years will be proud of you?
- Conduct a lot of experiments, iterate, and learn fast. Get out of your comfort zone. Scare yourself.
- Conduct a couple of small experiments every day. Jump into the unknown and see what happens.
- Celebrate your failures — they are amazing learning opportunities.
- Do less. Focus on what is really important for you. Why is this so important?
- Make your life simple by being clear on your vision. Focus on your true priorities. At any given time, you cannot have more than 3 priorities.
- Show up every day, even if you do not feel like creating or writing. Try to achieve the minimum viable product, art, blog, or video.
- Simplify and make things easier. What would it look like if it were easy?
- How can you incorporate more fun, curiosity, and play into your work?
- You need openness, curiosity, flexibility, and courage to create your renaissance.
