Do More, One Small Task at a Time

Austin
-
0
Do More, One Small Task at a Time

Do More, Your Life is Lived One Day at a Time

It can be tough to do more when it feels like you don’t have enough time. One way to start achieving more is to add small tasks to your day. Think about this for a minute. If you want to write a book but don’t have time you can write 100 words per day. That may not seem like that many but over the course of a year you will have written 36,500 words. That’s almost an entire book right there. This simple idea can be used on any task that you want to have more of in your life.

The idea is that if you add one small thing to your life each day it builds up over time. It’s like compounding interest. Einstein once said “Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it… He who doesn’t, pays it…” if you consider doing something every day as a way to compound your interests you will achieve more. The first thing you will need to do is find something worth pursuing.  That thing must be worth doing every day!

Pick Your Once a Day ThingGet Inspired By Reading

If you’re like me then you know that picking something new to learn can be difficult. Since you are trying to pick something that you can do every day it is a good idea to start with something you want as a habit. The best kind of habits are keystone habits. They are life changing and they build up other good habits. A few examples of things that you could do every day are reading, writing, exercising, or practicing a skill or trade.

Your one thing is something you have to be willing to commit to for a couple of months if not years. After you have picked your one thing you will be able to start your journey towards achieving more and pursuing excellence in all aspects of your life.

Make a Goal Then Break it Down

You’ve already picked something you want to spend more time doing. Now it’s time to decide what you want to do with your one thing. Goal setting is a monumental part of being successful. You should always strive to create the most empowering goals for yourself because you are the only one that can decided how successful you can be. When building monumental goals you should plan to break them down into actionable steps. That’s where doing something every day comes in.

After you’ve made your ultimate goal, it’s time to figure out what the most beneficial use of your time is each day. Take some time to visualize what you’re trying to achieve. How much time can you spend on your goal each day? Is it 30 minutes, 1 hour, or more? If you only have 30 minutes each day to work on your goal, break your goal down into smaller daily tasks that are easy to manage. The same goes for an hour or even 2. The important part here is making and effort to work your goal into your daily schedule.

Expand Into New AreasPositive thinking will change the world

After you have gotten into the habit of doing your task everyday it is time to expand into new beneficial areas. These new areas need to be 1 step removed and no more. That means that if you decided to read more often you should go out and start riding a unicycle as an additional task (unless you were learning about unicycles, in that case ignore that last part). If you did choose to read more this is a perfect time to start writing. Another example would be if you started working out then adding a healthy diet or meditation would be 1 step removed. You may have even started learning to draw in which case painting or animation may be a good next step.

Whatever you decide to do remember that you are only going to add a task that is 1 step removed. 1 step removed tasks will have overlapping interests or skills. The reason for this is that when your goals overlap you can compound your success.

Achieve More With Less

Success comes to those that are willing to put the work in, have patience, and understand that your opinion of success isn’t the same as the next person’s. Finding one thing that you can do everyday will evolve into you mastering a skill. If you are able to find something you are passionate about your growth will be accelerated even more. Once your skills evolve to the point where you can bring in new ideas that’s when you know you’re on the right path to success.

The more you strive to be the best that you can be the happier you will be. You aren’t just helping yourself, you are helping everyone that you interact with on a daily basis. If you think that getting better at one thing will help your life, find a friend that wants to do more too. You’ll be able to hold each other accountable meaning you’ll grow faster. No one successful will ever claim they did it alone, surround yourself with people that have the same mindset as you.

If you think achieving more every day is something that will help you, then it will help someone around you achieve more too. Make sure you share this idea with a friend. Whether it be by word of mouth or by sharing this post on social media. Taking one step in the right direction will help. Success is something that everyone deserves. Make sure you subscribe to our newsletter to learn more about what you can do for yourself and the people around you. Thanks for reading!

Reading Your Way to Success

Austin
-
1
Reading Your Way to Success

What Makes Reading so Important

Have you ever wondered what makes some people more successful than others? In most cases it’s the amount of time someone spends reading. Reading gives you a chance to look into the mind of someone that came before you or has more experience. Another common trend with people that read often is the formation of a keystone habit. Keystone habits are habits that are so influential on your life that creating one will change how you view the world. It can take many hours of work to create the habit of reading but the trade off is more happiness and success. Let’s take a look at ways to create a new habit.

How to Get Started

Getting started is always the hardest part of any task. When it comes to reading it can be even more difficult. I find this stems from being forced to read books we’re not interested in for a significant portion of our lives (think back to school).

  1. The first step to getting started will be experimenting and finding out what kind of books you are interested in reading. If you can’t decide take a look at best sellers on Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Narrow it down to a few books and pick the one that you think will be the most entertaining.
  2. The second step is to read small portions every day. The best way to do this is find a time that you can consistently read or 15 to 30 minutes every day. Many people like to read right at the end of the work day. Another great choice is reading before bed. Reading before bed can be a great choice because it gets you away from electronics and calm you down.
  3. The third step will be to set goals and monitor your progress. At first it may be hard to stay consistent but make sure you have goals that push hard enough that you have to try but, not so hard that you give up. As you achieve your goals right down what you’ve accomplished even if it’s as simple as reading 1 chapter. No achievement is too small when creating new habits.

Once you have started to take the small steps you need to create your new habit you will realize that you want to keep learning more. As this desire for new resources grows you will need to start exploring what reading options are out there waiting for you.

Explore Your Reading Resources

Sometimes reading a book isn’t the best option. They can be difficult to transport and can be hard to read without the right lighting. Don’t let that get you done, there are greener pastures. Technology has advanced to the point where no matter where or what you’re doing you have access to reading or books of some form. Just to name a few we have eBooks, magazines, forum posts, blog posts, and to really get into left field audio books. Every reading resource you can find is worthwhile to look into. Sometimes you have to experiment to find out what is best for you. Speaking of what’s best for you the only way to know is to track your progress.

Tracking Your Progress

Statistics may be a boring topic but it’s the only way to optimization. When you take the time to look back at what you have accomplished you will see the progress and be excited by it. There are many way to track your progress when you read.

  • Log all the books you’ve read – Logging all of your books lets you see trends in what you enjoy reading, how quickly you read, and lets you go back to reread in the future.
  • Make Notes – It can be difficult to remember what you have read. Making notes allows you to refresh your memory without having to start from scratch. You can use note cards, notebooks, or even the book itself to take notes. Don’t forget you can highlight books too just make sure they are yours and not borrowed.
  • Quiz Yourself – We all know taking tests and quizzes can be boring or even stressful. Quizzing yourself on a book can be as simple as asking yourself what just happened or as complicated as creating a test. A test could be flashcards, multiple choice, true or false, or maybe even a quick essay.

Remember that reading can be difficult. Track what you have done to show yourself that you can make the most difficult challenge look easy.

Share Your Experiences

Now that you’ve taken your first step towards creating a keystone habit. It’s time to get your friends and family involved. Reading doesn’t have to be something you do on your own. Tell people about what you are reading and what you would like to read in the future. Get others excited about the same things you are excited about. If you can’t convince your friends and family seek out peers that are like minded. There are book clubs and mastermind groups around the world. These groups are there to help each other. They will be there to help you.

Just remember you are forming this habit for you, don’t let others bring you down. Everytime you read it should be something you want to read. Reading will change your life. Make sure you enjoy it and follow through with creating your new keystone habit. As a first step towards sharing your experiences share this post on your favorite social media.  If you really want to get involved sign up for our newsletter and updates.

1...567...12Page 6 of 12