Lose $100 or win $200.

Most people refuse.

Not because the math is bad, but because the feeling is bad.

The loss hurts more than the gain excites.

Now I will offer you the same bet, but 100 times.

Suddenly, it feels attractive?

The trap of reasonable one decision at a time

Now, you get two offers:

A. Take $240 for sure.

B. Gamble for a 25% chance at $1000, 75% chance to get nothing.

Set 2:

C. Lose $750 for sure.

D. Gamble with a 75% chance of losing $1000 and 25% of no loss at all.

Most people choose:

• Sure gain.

• Risky loss.

In fact, 73% chose the sure gain and gamble-on-loss combination (A then D), only 3% chose the opposite (B, C).

This reflects our typical attitudes: we are risk-averse for gains but risk-seeking for losses.

In other words, we often prefer a sure gain over a fair gamble and prefer to gamble when facing a sure loss.

Safe when gaining. Brave when losing.

Balanced, right?

Wrong.

Because you never stopped to ask the only question that matters:

What happens if I look at both decisions together?

When combined, the “irrational” choices beat the “reasonable” ones.

The option most people reject is objectively better.

If you frame the two decisions together, the BC choice becomes the winner.

Combining the gambles shows that the combination people mostly avoided actually wins over the one they favored.

In wide frame the BC option has a higher expected value, yet only 3% chose BC when decisions were presented separately. That was my first choice too.

In other words, our narrow framings lead us to pay a hidden premium out of both pockets: overvaluing sure gains and overvaluing avoiding sure losses, even if that means missing out on better overall deals.

Kahneman shows that if you only make one decision at a time, you’re unlikely to spot these inconsistencies—the right thing to do would be bundling them and then choosing optimally.

That is the cost of narrow framing. You solve problems one by one and end up with a worse overall life.

Note: This example, however good to show the phenomenon, doesn’t make a dramatic difference when you do the math. B+C wins over A+D, but only by $10 in expected value—a pretty slim margin.

I know it’s counterintuitive, but the goal here is to show a system of decisions, reasonable choices that lead to worse long-term outcomes.

If you’re still confused (I was too), the full explanation is at the end.

The rest of the post will be lighter, I promise.

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Narrow framing is why you give great advice but ruin your own life

When it is someone else’s problem, you are sharp, clear, and quick to point a good way to solve it.

• “Just go get a checkup.”

• “Just don’t buy it.”

• “It is obvious what you should do.”

Distance removes fog.

When it’s your decision (even faced with the same problem as your friend), suddenly it’s complicated. Risky. Uncertain. Loaded with consequences.

The problem did not change, but the position you look at it from did. You zoomed in.

I wrote a dedicated post on this topic, a part of it:

Narrow.

That refers to the problems of others. Only the tip of the iceberg is visible. From that point of view, the problem seems easy and the solution seems obvious. The pain seems more bearable too. You are aware that the situation the person is in sucks, but you see it from a distance, and that gives perspective and clarity.

Distance makes it easier to analyze others’ situations objectively. It removes the “fog” that otherwise can make things harder to see.

Giving advice to others, you operate from a place of emotional detachment - that’s why advice is actually good. If the advice itself is good and works on others, it has only one reason to not work well on you - succumbing to the fog.

Wide.

That refers to your own problems. Those are much bigger than anyone else’s. Aren’t they? Your problems are covered with the fog. The fog of your emotions, past experiences, and, most important, future consequences.

You will suffer the consequences, so you pay much more attention to the problem, it concerns you. But that is a trap. You search for a key to free from it but sometimes doors are just open.

Disconnect from your emotions and your ego. Look narrowly at your problems, it solves them.

Read the full post here:

Life punishes narrow framers

Under narrow framing, we focus on one decision at a time, just the tip of the iceberg, and we feel the emotional pull of sure gains or sure losses right away.

In broad framing, we see the whole iceberg: we weigh all combinations of choices together.

Kahneman says that wide framing “will be superior (or at least not inferior) in every case” of multiple decisions.

In practice, this means that bundling choices or using simple risk policies can prevent the mistakes that come from an up-close view.

This is especially visible in investing.

People who just buy and forget tend to end up richer decades later than professional stock pickers.

In fact, random stock picking, in the wide picture, seems to be no different than all the tactics and tricks you can use to “predict” the future. Insider trading doesn’t count.

There’s a fragment about it in the book.

Risk policies: the cheat code to rational behavior

Smart decision-makers do not reinvent the wheel every time, but create rules in advance.

Examples:

• “I always take positive expected value risks.”

• “I ship before I feel ready.”

• “I post even if the idea is imperfect.”

These are risk policies. They remove emotional negotiation from each moment.

Don’t debate every time. Follow the rule.

That is wide framing in action.

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Why you feel paralyzed even when the math is obvious

Because you frame each move as final.

You act as if:
– This decision will define your career
– This risk will define your reputation
– This failure will define your future

It will not. Unless you stop after it.

Single failures only matter to people who think narrowly.

People who think widely know that:

1. You win a few.

2. You lose a few.

3. You keep playing.

4. You get better at the game.

Often, this happens so slowly that we become accustomed to the current standard and fail to notice the progress we have made.

How to force wide framing in real life

Simple. Rules.

1. Write the long-term version

Instead of: “This might fail.”
Write: “If I do this weekly for 2 years, where will I be?”

Fog clears on paper.

2. Borrow someone else’s distance

Ask someone you respect:
“What would you do if this were your decision?”

3. Think like a trader, not a gambler

Gamblers obsess over single outcomes. Traders care about the long-term.
“I am playing a series, not a round.”

Your life is not the result of big decisions

It is the result of hundreds of small decisions framed narrowly.

Don’t evaluate each move as if it exists alone. It never does.

Zoom out.

If you liked the intro, you’ll like the book. Get it here.

If you liked the post, you’ll like AchievR’s content. Get deeper dives here.

Overwhelmed? Refresh your life position.

Any suggestions? Give me feedback here:

Start Survey

Liked the post? Share with someone who needs it!

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If you find value reading AchievR, click the ❤️ & 🔄 button, so more people can discover it!

Here’s your reward for reading to the end, regarding the intro:

Matthew Rabin and Richard Thaler pointed out that “the aggregated gamble of one hundred 50–50 lose $100/gain $200 bets has an expected return of $5,000, with only a 1/2,300 chance of losing any money and merely a 1/62,000 chance of losing more than $1,000.”

AD BC explanation

2 boxes—you must pick one option from Box 1 and one option from Box 2.
After that, the results are added together to give your final outcome.

Box 1

You choose between:

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It’s been a while since I posted.

Since I disappeared without any info, you deserve an explanation.

So, what happened, and where have I been?

Why did I disappear without a word?

Two main reasons:

1. I had a lot going on.

Long story short—I started a new job. I had some health problems. Suddenly, the project dropped low on my priority list.

But, truth be told, publishing one newsletter a week is nothing I couldn’t do at the time.

Why did I stop posting then?

2. Lack of direction, lost interest… not sure what words to use to describe it.

I started this newsletter writing about things that interest me.

As I gained more subs, I started experimenting and pivoting in the direction that would be more single-focused.

At that point, AchievR (All Things Self Improvement at the time) gathered hundreds of people from various backgrounds, with various interests.

Which brings me to the main cause: finding balance between things that interest me and things that you want to read.

A newsletter (especially a paid one) is a different game than a YouTube channel.

It needs a specific X (content) for a specific Y (audience).

To put it bluntly, I just don’t know what to write about.

Not that I have no ideas. I have, maybe too many. But one is completely different from the other.

I need to pick one. One thing that I can continuously write about for years that:

1. Interests you.

2. Interests me.

I don’t want to write about something I don’t care about for profit.

I definitely don’t want to become another “How to make money on Substack” type of newsletter.

I need your help with solving that equation. Scroll down to the section “A small ask for you” to know more.

What’s next?

I intentionally put AchievR out of my mind during the time of my absence.

I wasn’t writing, I wasn’t planning, I wasn’t posting anywhere, I wasn’t working on anything.

I haven’t even opened a single Notion page related to the project.

Now, I’m back.

For now, I’m focusing on what I’ve just told you about.

I have some ideas, both for new posts, products, and… more. You’ll see.

I will keep you updated throughout the process.

And just to be clear—AchievR won’t suddenly become a stock-picking newsletter.

What you’ve tasted so far will remain the foundation. Only with more spices and one specific flavor that stands out from the rest.

As I believe you have a good palate, help me find it!

One thing is sure: I will keep writing.

A small ask for you

Give me honest feedback! By that, I mean:

• What would you like to see from me?

• Which posts did you like the most?

• What’s your current big struggle?

You can do so by filling out a short survey, replying to this email, or leaving a comment under the post on Substack.

Subscribe now

If you’re new here or want to refresh your memory, read the introduction.

One more thing!

My friend Joe Denner has a cool resource that will help you break the cycle of inconsistency with finishing projects. I wanted to share it with you.

Click here to get Joe’s 3-Step Guide to Living the Life You Always Wanted.

Want more from AchievR? Visit the resource library.

Up for a nourishing read? Check out the Hyper Achiever tier.

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Thanks for being here, and until next time!

—Beniamin

Tomorrow never comes.

Sound familiar?

2 quick ideas for today:

• Morning for progress.

• 9-5 as a launchpad.

Morning for progress

If you’re waiting until after work to build your business, you’re setting yourself up to fail.

After eight hours of giving your best energy to someone else’s dream, you have little left for your own.

The most effective way I found to fight this is sacrificing an hour in the evening, getting up an hour earlier, and doing the single most important thing first thing after waking up.

That way, even when you won’t do anything else after getting home, the needle is moved.

You don’t need four-hour work blocks to build a successful business. You need consistency in small doses and on the right actions. That means: actions that have a high leverage-to-time ratio.

One hour on a full battery beats three distracted hours. Every. Single. Time.

And if only your work allows you, use:

Priority problem.

“I don’t have time” is the biggest lie you tell yourself.

It’s not true that everyone has the same 24 hours in a day. You don’t have a maid, a private chef, and tons of other people who can save you time for money.

But it’s not that you don’t have time at all.

Ever looked back at TV series you watched, books you read and games you played and wondered “how I found time for that?”

Was it because you were less busy back then, or was it because that was a priority?

Maybe something you think is your priority isn’t in reality. If it were, your time spent would reflect that.

I watched 8 seasons of Dexter this year, that’s about 84 hours. I’ve found time for that. At the same time, I’ve been marinating “important” tasks on my to-do list.

Apparently, they weren’t that important. And I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not.

If your teeth hurt, you get it fixed as soon as possible because the pain is unbearable. If the pain of living your current life isn’t, maybe it isn’t that bad.

The life you want to build is competing for your attention rather than your time.

It’s competing against Netflix, social media, and whatever else fills the gaps.

It’s not that you are physically unable to do things you need to do after getting home, it’s hard to start because “I’ve already worked 8 hours.” You did. Not for yourself, though.

What are you willing to stop doing?

Choose consciously.

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9-5 as a launchpad, not a final destination

Stop viewing your day job as an obstacle to your entrepreneurial dreams.

Your 9-5 provides stability, a steady income, and reduced financial pressure while you build.

This is a massive advantage that full-time entrepreneurs don’t have. You can take calculated risks, test ideas, take your time.

Your day job is funding your business education and gives you a field to experiment.

You can’t start a business with no time or no money. 9-5 is an okish spot that balances those 2.

Plus, your workplace gives you access to potential customers, mentors, and even future business partners. Build relationships, steal tricks that work.

Overwhelmed? Refresh your life position.

Any suggestions? Give me feedback here:

Start Survey

To read next:

If you find value reading AchievR, click the ❤️ & 🔄 button, so more people can discover it!

That’s like saying, “I just need to breathe better.” It sounds right, but it’s useless.

Your brain runs on limited attention units. Spend them badly and you go broke before lunch.

Focus is a skill that can be trained. Today, you’ll learn how to do it.

In this Concept Crackdown:

1. What focus actually is

2. Component 1: Clarity

3. Component 2: Attention control

4. Component 3: Energy Management

5. 4. Environmental changes

6. Component 5: Recovery systems

7. Common mistakes people make

8. The focus formula

What focus actually is

In one sentence: The deliberate act of directing limited cognitive resources toward one priority while ignoring competing inputs.

“Limited” is the keyword here.

You have a small tank of high-octane fuel each day (about 90 minutes of peak, resets after sleep).

Waste it on TikTok and doomscrolling, and by the time you sit down for real work, the tank is dry. More on that later.

Focus is:

• Like a laser that can be pointed at one thing at a time.

• Exhaustible resource.

• Value creator.

Component 1: Clarity

Nothing stops starting like a lack of clarity. I said it many times and will say again: making a very detailed plan of the exact steps you need to take is one of the best productivity hacks out there.

Think of your brain as a processor: a powerful unit that is useless if you don’t give it detailed instructions.

As in coding, one missing “;” can stop the program from running, your projects will be bugged too if you don’t have steps to follow.

“Just start” is one thing, but doing everything on the fly will unnecessarily take a lot of your mental power.

More here:

Speaking of clarity:

• You can’t focus on fog. Vague goals = getting lost.

• Be specific: “Write 300 words” beats “work on the book.”

• Every focus session starts with “what exactly am I focusing on?”

• Action: Before each session, write the exact steps. Perform one at a time. Don’t religiously stick to it, adjust if step 1 changed what needs to be done in step 2.

Subscribe now

Component 2: Attention control

The core skill here is catching yourself when you drift and coming back.

It requires a lot of practice, but you will get better over time.

Train your attention muscle:

• Notice when you've drifted without judgment.

• Redirect back to the task. You can put a piece of paper on your desk and make a dot every time you go back.

• Track how quickly you return (it gets faster with practice).

• Use external cues: timers, focus apps, simple pen marks on paper (like dots).

How to implement?

• Meditation—read more in the book.

• Focus on the present moment in whatever you do.

• Form the habit. Habit is the king of change.

• Focus on one thing at a time and one thing only.

More here:

Speaking attention control:

• Focus = returning quickly when pulled away. Train like a muscle.

• Kill multitasking: every context switch burns brain fuel.

• Action: Try 25–45 minute “attention reps.” Phone in another room, one tab only, one task. When distracted, note it and come back.

  Subscribe now

Component 3: Energy management

Read more

After breaking down every chapter, I'll show you what actually works for regular entrepreneurs, what's complete BS, and the one strategy that changed everything for his business.

This is Part 2 of my Million Dollar Weekend breakdown—where we get into the real money-making tactics.

Chapter 6: Social media for growth

This chapter starts with Noah telling us how he raised $30,000 from his audience for Bo Jackson’s charity bike ride.

Then he tells us how great it is to have an audience. We already know that. Real question—how to build it?

Lesson:

Unique angle and unfair advantage.

Take, for example, Ben Kenyon. Ben is the head strength and conditioning coach for the Philadelphia 76ers NBA basketball team…

Unfair advantage here is as clear as day. Ben can start a YouTube channel or newsletter with very little competition.

Anyone can talk about NBA online, but Ben has a strong authority card in his hand. And even more important—insights!

“What’s your unique angle in thirty seconds or less?” In other words, why would anyone care to read his newsletter?

You can answer that for yourself (look below, Chapter 6 challenges). Do it before you start anything. Here’s a template:

I write about [topics]. [Results they will get from your offer].

More about that here:

Don’t make the same mistake I did—writing about anything that interested me. If you go to “Archive” and scroll for a while, you’ll see a random jumble of topics. Turns out that’s not the best way to write a newsletter.

Truth to be told, that’s something I struggle with a lot. Even today. I rebranded the newsletter, but I’m still not sure.

I’m for a lookout for that “That’s it!” feeling, but I can’t find it. Reply to this email and let me know what you would like to see here.

Content circle framework:

1. Core Circle: Start with a very narrow audience. Ali started with the medical school exams for British people. Your niche within a niche can be the most obscure thing imaginable, as long as it makes you and your audience passionate.

2. Medium Circle: As you move bigger, your content should overlap somewhat with what concerns your Core Circle, but it should appeal to a broader audience. Ali started talking about studying and productivity in general, since that’s required for all students.

3. Large Circle: Here you go for the largest audience possible that’s still related. Some of Ali’s most watched videos are about his salary—made possible by his medical video fame—or the latest Apple product—which he uses to increase productivity. All the circles should still include your core audience but keep expanding your circle of influence.

Keep in mind that something that works well as a YouTube channel won’t necessarily work well as a newsletter.

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Summary:

1. Write your unique angle.

2. Pick a platform.

3. Create.

Be the Guide, Not the Guru

Chapter 6 challenges:

1. Write out your unique angle. There are no right answers here. You can change these any time you'd like.

1. Who are you?

2. Why should people listen?

3. What are you passionate about?

4. What will you do for people?

2. Update your bio.

   Choose your one platform, and using the unique angle pitch you wrote out before, clean up and rewrite your profile/bio on that platform to reflect who you are and how you help your ideal customer.

3. Create your own Content Circle.

   Think back to your validation days: Who are the customers you want to appeal to and what’s the outcome you can create content for? What’s the unique point of view in your content they’d be excited to hear about?

4. Post one piece of content.

   Now it’s time to post content publicly. Now, this piece of content can come in any format.

Chapter 7: Email for profit

Noah starts by telling us how he 95x his per email revenue by telling a story instead of selling.

Lesson:

Normally, Nikola would have just written: “There’s a deal on this product and you get to save $1,000!” Throw in a buy button and that was my typical email. It was just “Go buy!”—not much more than that.

About $100/email

It started with a line I will never forget:

“If you get a boner when I whisper the word ‘Garamond’ into your ear .. . you might be interested.”

$9,563 in 24h. Garmond is a font, and they were offering a deal for Kernest, which included it.

Part of final copy:

…You see, my friend, today we’re reaching out only to the community of people known as font fanatics.

You know who you are!

If your knees go weak when I whisper, “GARAMOND.”

. . . you might be one of ’em….

Why is email so important? If you're interested in newsletters, you know that already.

To quickly sum up what Noah said:

• AppSumo generates $65M annually: nearly 50% comes from email (consistent for 10+ years).

• Email beats social media followers: 1M+ social followers < 100K email subscribers.

• Guaranteed reach vs. algorithm luck: 40K people open every email vs. unpredictable social reach.

• Email isn't dead: 4+ billion users check it daily (89% check every day).

• Platform risk: Algorithm changes killed LittleThings ($100M loss, 75% traffic drop). And you can get banned any time.

• You own your email list: It's portable if your business shuts down.

• Cost-effective growth: Growing/messaging email lists costs less than paid ads.

How to get first subs?

1. Create a lead magnet: something you will give out for free in exchange for an email (ebook, checklist, resource)

2. Get people there.

Lead magnet examples from the book:

• A checklist that can be used to properly perform something I explained in a video.

• A template for determining, say, a business’s profit margin.

• An advanced guide that goes further into the details of a subject of one of my videos.

• A unique book that provides substantial value but is offered for free. For me, it is 11 Side Hustle Ideas to Make $500/Day from Your Phone.

  ---

• A DIY carpenter could offer plans to make a corner table.

• A marketing YouTuber could offer scripts of what to say on sales phone calls.

• A landscaping expert might offer recommendations for which kinds of

  grass to use around the United States.

Getting your first 100 subs.

Noah’s advice—use your network.

My advice—start on Substack. Currently, that’s the best place on the internet to gather emails. Use any existing social media to direct people on your list.

The law of 100.

Photography professor Jerry Uelsmann split his photography into two groups: the Quantity group and the Quality group.

The Quantity group had to take 100 pictures to get an A grade by the end of the semester, and the Quality group could turn in just one photo by the end of the semester —but it had to be perfect to get the A.

Can you guess what happened?

The Quantity group kicked the Quality group’s ass—in terms of quality!

Why?

The Quantity group experimented more! They took tons of photos, learned from their mistakes each time, spent more time in the darkroom, and they got better with time.

That’s what the Law of 100 is about.

Quality beats quantity, but quantity is the way to learn.

• If you want to start a YouTube channel, publish 100 videos.

• If you’re doing a newsletter, write 100 emails.

• If you’re starting a new hobby like chess or guitar, practice for 100 days.

• If you’re creating a business, directly pitch 100 customers.

Do it 100 times before quitting. Consistency grows tasty fruits.

Summary:

Your email list is your most important asset.

Chapter 7 challenges:

1. Build your landing page. You can set up one like Julien’s for free with SendFox.com (a service I helped build).

You can use free sites: Wix, HubSpot, Mailchimp, Carrd, and Google Sites, or even Canva.

2. Update email signature and social media bios. Put your landing page address in your email signature and your social bios.

Guide I used to create my email signature:

3. Create a Lead Magnet.

   It’s time to create your first Lead Magnet using the process we’ve just outlined above. You can use your piece of content from the previous chapter as a base or start something new. Don’t spend more than two hours on the first iteration.

4. Set up an autoresponder.

   I happen to think SendFox.com (I helped build it) is pretty darned good, but there are a bunch of others that I recommend, like ConvertKit.com and Mailchimp.com.

5. The Law of 100.

   Commit to doing 100 emails, posts, or whatever action will move you closer to your goals.

A little help for you.

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Chapter 8: The growth machine

After Noah was rejected as a director of marketing at Mint, he came back with a detailed marketing plan. What happened next?

Read more

Noah Kagan promises you can start a million-dollar business over a weekend. Here's what he doesn't tell you about why that might not work for most people.

Don't get me wrong, "Million Dollar Weekend" is packed with actionable steps, practical challenges, and value. But after breaking down each chapter, I realized there's a gap between Kagan's advice and reality for most people.

This breakdown is too extensive for one post, so I'm releasing it in two parts. I'll show you what works, what doesn't, and why you should still read the book yourself. Get it here (affiliate)

This post has the format of:

• Intro

• Lesson

• Summary

• Chapter’s challenges

Chapter 1: Just fu*king start

Noah’s Background: He went to Berkeley and was the 30th employee at Facebook, from which he was fired later.

Neat start that comes with a packet of skills and knowledge. Then he talks about his successful businesses. In short, there’s a lot to learn from this man.

Every chapter has its own challenges that will be listed at the end of each section.

Lesson:

What actually stops people from starting?

In 2013, I set out to solve that mystery and launched a course called “How to Make a $1000-a-Month Business.” I started with a group of five beta testers—a programmer, a horse trainer, and three people with ordinary day jobs—all of whom had everything they needed to start their own business.

Two weeks after we started, I was shocked to discover the entire group practically made ZERO progress. To understand what had happened, I got everyone in a room together and did some entrepreneurial group therapy, breaking down what was holding them back.

It turns out, it wasn’t a lack of skill, desire, or intelligence.

The whole group was derailed by the same two fears:

1. Fear of starting

2. Fear of asking

Start. That’s the whole lesson. Start without overthinking. Start when you aren’t ready.

Is there a right time for having kids? Probably? But surely not now? The same is true with business, and it’s much less scary than having kids.

I’ve written about this many times on AchievR (like here or here, for example).

To give you the wider picture, let’s list the most common causes for not starting and the cure for them:

• I’m not ready, I don’t know enough yet. Just start!

• I will fail. You will fail. You will learn. You will fail less. Just start!

• I’m not cut out for this. What’s that presumption based on? Was it enough to determine? Just start!

• There are so many things that could go wrong. Most of them are in your head. Just start!

I like the term “wantrepreneur” Noah is using. Don’t be one.

The freedom number.

It’s a number that will allow you to cover all the necessary expenses. It’s not the number for getting rich (yet), it’s the number that buys freedom.

I’ve had mine in mind for a long time. and believe everyone should have one. Come up with one for yourself (remember—starting).

From my eighteenth birthday until I turned thirty, my monthly Freedom Number was $3,000. Why $3,000? Because adding up what I paid for rent, the cost of the tacos and steak and wine I liked to eat and drink, and the plane tickets that would let me work from Argentina or Korea or Thailand, all together that came to a little less than $3,000 a month. At the time, that’s what my living expenses were. Roughly speaking: $1,000 for housing, $1,000 for food and travel, $1,000 for savings and investment.

Summary:

Act first and figure stuff out along the way. There’s no better lesson than failing and iterating on your own.

Super-successful people do the opposite—they take action first, get real feedback, and learn from that, which is a million times more valuable than any book or course. And quicker! […] Any analysis ahead of action is purely speculation.

Chapter 1 challenges:

1. Ask someone you know for a dollar investment in you and your future business—one measly dollar!

2. Ask one person you respect for a business idea.

3. Choosing your Freedom Number.

Chapter 2: Embrace rejection

Noah tells a little story about his dad, who sold copiers with a hard, foreign accent.

“Love rejections! Collect them like treasure! Set rejection goals. I shoot for a hundred rejections each week, because if you work that hard to get so many noes, my little Noah’le, in them you will find a few yeses, too.”

Lesson:

Ask. That’s the whole lesson. Because what’s the worst that can happen? Noah doesn’t say it that directly, but—have no shame in asking for what you want.

Most people don’t directly ask for what they want. They drop a hint here and there, and then are disappointed they didn’t get it.

We cringe at people like this, but we’re jealous after the question is answered.

Rejection is scary, it hurts. But it also doesn’t matter. None of those people who made fun of your cold DM will come to your funeral. Even more, they won’t remember it tomorrow.

Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk turned a decade of no’s into a chart-beating hit. Whatever you are doing, it won’t take 10 years for you.

Who is the type of person that starts a million-dollar business?

• The type of person who asks for what they want.

• If you want a new job at a new company, you have to ASK for it.

• If you want more money from your boss, you have to ASK for the raise.

• If you are selling something, you have to ASK the customer to buy it.

• Even at home, if you want your spouse or kids to treat you better, you have to ASK them.

I once did sales training for various renewable energy companies. This involved identifying homes that looked like they needed upgrades, knocking on doors, making small talk (which I hated), and then pitching our product (which was a solid offer). Some people were scared, others were rude, and a few were downright hostile. But it was an experience that made cold DMing people online feel like a peaceful walk in the forest by comparison.

This is going to suck, but there’s something very satisfying about casting this net.

What do you need?

• Persistence: most nos are actually a “not nows.”

• Follow up: a lot.

• Selling is helping: If you believe your product or service improves the lives of your customers, selling is just education. And here’s when I have an ask:

  AchievR is a highly nutritious media diet for your brain.

Summary:

Ask. Ask a lot. Ask despite discomfort.

Chapter 2 challenges:

1. The Coffee Challenge: Go to any coffee shop or anyplace in person. Make a simple purchase and ask for 10 percent off.

Chapter 3: Finding million-dollar ideas

The chapter starts with another story—about the business that flopped, sank $100k+, and how that led to $15 million opportunity.

It is deadly to build a business without first verifying that there are paying customers

Lesson:

…when it comes to generating business ideas, customers come first. Before the product or service. Even before the idea. To build a business, you need someone to sell to.

I can’t tell you how many times someone has emailed me saying, “What do you think of this business idea?”

My auto-reply? “Have you asked what the customer thinks?”

Steve Jobs said, “You have to start with the customer experience and work backwards.”

[..]

If you do it this way, you’re assured of nailing the three Ws of business right from the start:

• Who you are selling to?

• What problem you’ re solving?

• Where they are?

The core lesson here (which repeats in the book many times) is that you need to test your idea first, to see if customers are there and if they will pay for the solution you provide.

Founder first vs customer first approach:

Okay, you have an idea for a dog-walking app. How would you go about doing it? Here’s the way most people—most wantrepreneurs—would do it:

1. Spend hours at home thinking about the app (and coming up with clever names for it).

2. Set up an LLC

3. Spend $100 hiring their cousin to draw a cool logo. Set up an LLC.

4. Watch YouTube videos about apps and programming and business. And dogs.

5. Consider signing up for a developer boot camp and quickly realize coding is hard.

6. Buy the domain name for the snazzy website they’re going to build.

7. Look into hiring a developer on Upwork, and quickly realize it’s prohibitively expensive.

8. Give up. Again.

vs:

1. Call or text three people right now who have dogs and ask them to pay you to walk their dog.

2. Turns out none of these dog owners have problems walking their dog. You discover their real problem is finding dog sitters when they’re traveling.

3. Ask for their next travel dates and have them pay you a deposit.

They pay: jackpot!

Personal network.

Long story short: Noah describes how he launched AppSumo (discounted software bundles) by emailing the Imgru founder and an important person at Reddit. I can’t help but notice this part is not relatable at all.

Email to Chris Slowe, Reddit’s founding engineer:

Wanted to treat you to a breakfast at Pork Store Cafe to give you some suggestions on the site and run by a cool promotion I’m working on with Imgur.

You free this Wed at 9am?

If any mortal like me and you were to do this, we would never get an answer. And that’s when the brilliant plan would stop.

However, the lesson is there. And it’s valuable—use your existing network. People you already know can be a great potential. You are on some WhatsApp groups, Discords, etc. Everyone knows this, few use this. Combine with the lesson from before—asking.

Finding business ideas.

And the 3 questions you need for that:

1. What’s the most painful (aka valuable) problem you can solve for people...

2. That you also have passion for and/or unique expertise in...

3. For the largest niche possible that you belong to and understand . . .

Business is all about solving problems, pains, frustrations. You’ve got enough of them, and some are shared with other people, some you know way more about than others. Solve your own problems, win-win.

A tip I really liked is latching onto existing products. Like stickers for an iPhone, PS5 custom controller skins, or cool Lego displays.

It’s easier to sell to a large group of people who’ve already spent money on a product or service.

Summary:

Ask. Ask a lot. Ask despite discomfort.

Chapter 3 challenges:

1. Top three groups. Let’s write out your top three groups to target. Who do you have easy access to that you’d be EXCITED to help? This can be your neighbors, colleagues, religious friends, golf buddies, cooking friends, etc.

2. Solve your own problems. Use the questions (above) to find three ideas.

3. Write down two accessorizing ideas in your MDW Journal.

4. Use search engine questions and Reddit forums to find two more ideas.

Chapter 4: One-minute business model

Students of Noah’s Monthly1K challenged him to make $1k in the next 24h from the ideas they chose. The beef jerky idea was the winner. The next 2 chapters show how this business was later sold for $120k.

In this chapter, you will learn how to determine if the idea has $1M potential.

Lesson:

3 questions to help you decide on the business:

1. “Is this a million-dollar opportunity?” You’ll research the market to find out.

2. “What’s my model?” You’ll create a simple budget by sketching out revenue, cost, and profit, so you know how many units you’ll need to sell and for how much to make $1 million.

3. “What if it turns out it’s not going to work?” You’ll pivot and evolve: You’ll use customer feedback to adjust the variables of the business (pricing, model, offer, category—all that) into something bigger and better.

Find customers that will pay.

You, dear reader, are a surfer. What you’re selling—the product or service—is your surfboard. The market is the wave, and the wave is what matters most.

Even if you’re a great surfer with an amazing board, you will still fail if you don’t have a good wave to ride.

You don’t have to hop on a new trend. There are many examples in the book, including selling dog treats and cookies. Students are generally broke, solving rich people’s problems pays—you get the idea. Example:

…Robert Samuel. After getting fired from his customer service job at AT&T, he noticed the frenzy created by every new iPhone release. So he put an ad on Craigslist in 2012 to validate whether anyone would pay for him to wait in line. When he was paid $325 for his first fifteen-hour stint, he knew he had a wave.

Today, his business Same Ole Line Dudes (SOLD) employs thirty dudes and dudettes, charging a $50 minimum up to two hours and $25 for each additional hour to wait in line for everything from hot new sneakers to the DMV to the newest iPhone release—and Robert himself takes home $80,000 a year.

To have a million-dollar business, you need a million-dollar opportunity—how do you prove you have one?

1. Is the overall market dying, flat, or growing?

2. Is this a million-dollar opportunity?

For 1:

Use Google Trends/Ads Manager, as well as Facebook Ads. Keyword research, any other tool to determine the market’s potential.

For 2:

1. Pick a price point you think will be ideal for your customer.

2. Multiply that by the number of ideal customers.

3. Does that equal at least a million dollars? Yes or no?

Noah gives an example of beard oil.

• Problem: Beards are itchy

• Solution: Beard oil

• Google Trends: Flat with some growth

• Size of market: 2,500,000 people

• Cost of your product: ~$50

• Total Value: $125,000,000

• Million-dollar idea? Yes!

How to generate your own $1M?

As you won’t take 10, 5, or even 2% of the market—what would it take for $1M?

Revenue (all the money you make) — Cost (how much it costs to make it) = Profit (what you get to take home)

Our Beard oil sells for

$ 50.00

Cost to make, package, and ship

$ 37.50

Profit per unit sold

$ 12.50

Target Profit

$ 1,000,000

Profit per unit sold

$ 12.50

Total sales needed

80,000

This will never be that easy, but it gives you a rough mental image that you will base further decisions on.

AND, we are skipping the competition aspect here, which in this example is massive.

Pivot and evolve.

Coming back to jerky:

1 Bag of Jerky

$ 20

Cost to acquire, package, and ship

$ 15

Profit

$5

Uh-oh . . . That meant:

Target profit

$ 1,000

Profit per unit sold

$5

Total sales needed

200

In 24h? Too much. Solution: recurring sale—subscription.

I also realized that if I sold to offices that offered snacks, it would be easier to find customers with larger disposable budgets. Plus, I figured I had a lot of close friends at companies who could buy for their employees or refer me to their office managers.

Once again, connections. A huge part of business. Pitching offices to buy your jerky sub would definitely take more than 24h.

One-time sale: $20/1, 200 sales needed after costs.

6-month subscription: $120/1, 33 sales needed after costs.

AND, we are skipping the burnout aspect. Not that difficult to find a high-potential idea, very difficult to find an idea that won’t burn the absolute shit out of you.

If you do a non-obligatory thing that you don’t care about for the pure sake of money, you will burn out. Profitable ideas are often boring as hell! Does doing taxes for crypto traders sound sexy? I bet there’s money in it.

Overall, the book has a lot of shortcuts. Worth reading, solid, but some aspects are simplified to the maximum.

If all this info is overwhelming. I recommend coming back to it a few times. Chapter 4, steps 1-4 in the book if you want a deeper dive. Now let’s move on.

Summary:

Validate the idea before starting anything.

Chapter 4 challenges:

Find your $1M idea, like above.

Chapter 5: Validate your business by getting paid

You wonder how that 48h jerky challenge ended up?

Read more

You look at the clock and have no idea where the time went. That state of total immersion is repeatable. Once you understand how to use it, you can trigger it even in situations where it doesn’t come naturally.

2 quick ideas for today:

• Flow state.

• Time quickening.

Flow state

Occurs when the task is neither too easy nor too hard. Challenging enough to test your skills and put your existing abilities to use.

Flow is a peak mental state. Great art and performances are created in it. Even if they can’t name it, great athletes, directors, musicians, and writers feel it while doing what they do best.

It’s easy to get into it in video games, sports, and other quick-reward activities. You don’t force yourself to do them. If anything, you can’t get enough of them.

Gaming, running, conversation. It occurs in many. It isn’t that rare.

The keyword here is: immersion.

The challenge is learning to use it for what you want, when you want.

Time quickening

At work, time slows. Binging your favorite series, time speeds up. Not literally, but your perception of it.

Wouldn’t it be nice to turn those tables?

Perception of time is relative. One hour is always one hour, but one hour can feel like 10 minutes or 2 hours. This is a real phenomenon that you can use to your advantage.

6 steps for time quickening:

1. Distraction-free work environment.

2. Focus on one task at a time until it's completed.

3. Work hard and work well.

4. Work uninterrupted for the scheduled time.

5. Don't look at the clock.

6. Stop working when thinking becomes unclear due to fatigue.

6 steps in depth:

1. Covered this here.

2. Don’t switch attention. One thing at a time until it’s done. Important work can be hard and unclear. When you feel tired of the task, it’s better to just sit doing nothing and let your mind process, than get to doing something else, occupying it further. Unless it’s something trivial you have to do.

3. Don’t stop until what’s planned for the session, or more, is completed. When you flow, you go. Specific task—so you know what. Time block—so you know when. Execution—no distractions, no giving up. That’s how you make progress. Very simple but very difficult.

4. Try 45 45-minute work/15-minute rest split. No matter what, don’t stop until time’s up. In creative work, it takes some time to warm up. If you go through this phase, it gets easier to go. Good performance is repeatable, just not every session, and not immediately after starting.

5. Don’t compare how much you’ve accomplished with how much is left to do. This kills motivation and brings overwhelm. One brush stroke is insignificant, 1000 create a painting. You eat an elephant one bite at a time. After all this journey, I can confidently say that breaking complex stuff into small, clear chunks and diving into them immersively is one of the 2 most important productivity tricks.

6. As with working out, there’s a limit to your brain too. If you feel tired but not sleepy, that’s the limit. Quality (rested mind) over quantity (tired). When tired, don’t keep going. Rest. That is, counterintuitively for some, a faster way to progress.

Do more in what feels like less time.

Steps from this book, with my personal notes.

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Upcoming Next week: Premium Mind Bullet You have so many ideas, how to pick the best ones?

To read next:

Most people treat ChatGPT like Google with personality, but LLMs are great at extracting clarity from mess and analyzing data. Here’s how..

In this Premium Mind Bullet:

• Step 1: Time audit.

• Step 2: Turn chaos into plan.

• Step 3: Project breakdown.

• Step 4: Put in the calendar and prioritize.

• Tower Brick + Prompt for clarity + Power quote + This Week’s Resource

Step 1: Time audit

You can't manage what you don't measure.

Before GPT can help you, it needs to understand where your time actually goes.

We will use this template by Ali Abdaal,

which you can get here.

The template has 3 pages, we are interested in two:

• 168 hours template: How much time per week I spend on what.

• Ideal week: What would my ideal time spent per week be like.

Fill them up. Be as accurate as you can.

More about the template in this week’s resource section.

Step 2: Turn chaos into plan

Once you have your time audit, download it as PDF and use this prompt:

I filled out two time tracking templates - my current reality vs. my ideal week. Here are the results:

[download filled templates in pdf and paste to the chat]

My main goals right now are: [list your top 3 goals or 1 main] 


Analyze this data and help me:
1. Identify the biggest gaps between current and ideal
2. Find the easiest 2-3 hours to reclaim first
3. Spot time categories that are bloated vs. starved
4. Prioritize which changes will have the most impact
5. Create a realistic bridge plan to move toward my ideal for the next week, give me exact steps to take for each day with estimate of how much time I will save

Adjust every time aspect to the given goals. Be specific about what needs to change and how to change it. Ask anything if you need. 

I recommend taking some time to review the output yourself. Rate by priority: 1-3, highest to lowest. That will give you more insight than just reading the output.

Step 3: Project breakdown

Read more

Conversations, observations, random thoughts, connections between concepts you consumed yesterday and experienced today.

Most of it gets lost.

But what if I told you that within this noise are content ideas that you couldn’t create in a lifetime?

In this Free Mind Bullet:

• Consumption/creation balance.

• My process.

• Few frameworks to use when your head is empty.

• Practical tips to implement today.

Consumption/creation balance.

In the book “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft”, Stephen King says that to become a good writer, you need to read a lot and write a lot. Shocking, I know. But I’ve seen people falling into one bias too many times not to mention this.

Those 2 types of creators look like that:

1. Information vacuum: They consume endlessly. Books, podcasts, courses. They become walking encyclopedias of other people's thoughts but never develop their own. They mistake learning for progress.

2. Creation desert: They stop consuming entirely, thinking they need to be original and practice more. They pump out content from an empty well, wondering why everything feels forced and shallow. Core thought to understand for this type: everything is a remix.

You can’t create without consuming, you can consume without creation, but ideas not put into reality become useless.

My process

I will provide you with a general sketch of what my process looks like and give you a few tips. But I have never had any problems with it. In fact, this post is the first time I’ve investigated my process.

1. Consumption: Audiobooks play a big role here. Whenever I clean my room or walk my dog, I have something playing in my earphones. Sometimes I don’t pay attention and stop playing to get lost in thoughts. Sometimes I’m so eager to know what will be next that I listen on 2x. Sometimes one particular line plants a seed, and the rough development of the idea forms in my mind. Then I stop and write it down (usually a sketch with keywords, like: somebody/nobody syndrome, mindset, timestamp). That way, I can get to it later, knowing what I meant. Remember: your mind is not for keeping ideas, but for inventing them.

2. Processing: I try to use every second to gather knowledge, but I also give myself time to process the information. That’s the most important step. In practice, that doesn’t mean taking any action in particular. You’ve filled your mind, now it filters things in the background and picks the best.

3. Driver: Based on what you are deeply immersed in at the moment, you will get different ideas. I look at everything I consume through the lens of newsletters, products, and posts. And you need a driver too. You need a magnet that will draw the small, relevant to you, pieces of information and put them together.

   1. If you are a painter, you will get a composition idea after reading a descriptive part of a novel.

   2. If you are a music producer, you will get a sample idea from hearing an old jazz song.

   3. If you have a newsletter about online writing, one YouTube video lays a foundation that waits to be filled with your interpretation, perspective, and original tweaks.

I don’t designate any time to brainstorm. Ideas just strike at random times during the day, and I write them down immediately. If you think you are a dumbass who can’t think of anything, you will. Mindset plays a major role everywhere, and that’s not an exception.

If you perceive yourself as that kind of person, this is a must-read:

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Few frameworks to use when your head is empty

Take any concept and flip the lens:

• Business advice → Personal relationships: "Customer retention strategies" becomes "How to keep friends for decades"

• Sports psychology → Content creation: "Mental preparation for athletes" becomes "Pre-publishing rituals that reduce anxiety"

• Parenting techniques → Team management: "Setting boundaries with toddlers" becomes "Managing difficult employees"

Dan Koe does this constantly: Ancient Stoicism becomes modern productivity advice. Personal development becomes business strategy.

Most content focuses on solutions. Flip it:

• Instead of "How to be productive" → "Why productivity advice doesn't work for creative people"

• Instead of "Best morning routines" → "Why morning routines are killing your creativity"

• Instead of "How to build habits" → "The habits that are secretly destroying your progress"

This framework comes from Nicolas Cole’s video. Check out his channel—good stuff.

Same topic in 10 ways:

1. Tips for buying your first piece of real estate.

2. Stats for buying profitable real estate in 2024.

3. Steps to buy your first rental property.

4. Lessons I learned buying my first short-term rental.

5. Benefits of buying real estate in your 20s.

6. Reasons everyone should own at least one rental property.

7. Mistakes people make when buying their first rental property.

8. Examples of real estate investors who made millions.

9. Questions most first time homeowners don't know to ask the seller.

10. Personal Stories (Ex. I'm Building My Local Real Estate Empire and Owning a Hundred Doors).

Time machine: Take current problems and solutions back/forward in time:

• "How would Renaissance artists handle social media?"

• "What would Stoics think about modern productivity culture?"

• "How will AI change the way we think about creativity in 2030?"

Robert Greene mastered this: Laws in "48 Laws of Power" connects historical examples to modern applications.

Ladder: Take any topic up or down levels of abstraction:

• Specific → General: "My experience with imposter syndrome" → "Why high achievers struggle with self-worth"

• General → Specific: "The importance of systems" → "The 3-minute daily review that changed my life"

• Tactical → Strategic: "Best note-taking apps" → "Why your second brain is making you stupid"

Question cascade: Start with one question, let it breed:

• "Why do I procrastinate?"

• "Is procrastination always bad?"

• "What if procrastination is actually intuition?"

• "When should you trust your resistance to a project?"

• "How do you tell the difference between knowledge and wisdom?"

Each question becomes potential content.

And I want to address one stupid objection here: “What if I run out of ideas?”

You won’t. Never. Assuming you didn’t trap yourself in a very, very narrow field, there are enough things to explore for your whole lifetime and far beyond that.

Practical tips to implement today

• Turn on the voice assistant on your phone. When I drive and can’t write things down, I use Google Assistant to make a short note for me. Nothing fancy, just the few most important words that will trigger my memory later when I look at it.

• Keep something to take notes near your bed. Phone, notebook, piece of paper. Falling asleep is harvesting time for new ideas. My book was born that way. A whole idea I based the book on appeared in my brain when I couldn’t sleep.

• Work even when your head is empty. Creative process breeds creativity. When you work, your brain puts together many layers and patterns. That creates ideas. Just now, writing that, I got an idea for a new product. Obviously, it’s already noted down as you are reading it.

• Last but not least: Note down new ideas immediately.

Any suggestions? Give me feedback here:

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To read next:

Link to the book is an affiliate.

A go-to place for all the resources from AchievR. To visit when you need to. As it contains everything from the publication. Not everything will fit everyone, but I’m sure you will find something for yourself there.

• Quick-Hit Lists (reading list, digital hygiene) for quick implementation and use, grab what you need and go.

• Printable materials (like Anti-to-do & done lists). Trackers you can put on your wall or desk. Physical tools for real world.

• Visual tools that make abstract concepts concrete.

• All the visuals, materials, and frameworks from previous paid posts, plus everything new I create.

• Updated regularly.

Including:

• See Yourself Growing Habit Tracker
  A 40-day system I use. Will help you form new habits, track existing ones, and visually see your progress.
  Value: $10

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  Value: $14

• Dead Zone Exit — Get Out Of A Rut And Reset Your Life In Short Term
  When you are stuck in a loop of zero energy, will help you put things together, create vision and anti-vision for the future and reset.
  Value: $9

• Ego Echoes — Break The Somebody-Nobody Syndrome in 21 Days.
  Will help you break the somebody-nobody syndrome: pattern of tying your worth to outcomes and validation. These prompts rewire how you see yourself.
  Value: $20

• Every template, visual, and framework I build
  Will allow you to quickly access visuals and frameworks you need at the time. Everything lives here. Clean. Clear. Organized. Evolving.

Upcoming updates: Writing tools, book notes. Join the Hyper Achiever tier:

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I used to think deep work meant locking myself away like a monk and grinding for 8-hour stretches until my brain turned to mush.

I'd last maybe 45 minutes before my mind started wandering. I was doing the equivalent of trying to build muscle by lifting weights for 12 hours straight.

Everyone's optimizing their monk-mode setup with $300 noise-cancelling headphones. The most productive people I know can get work done in crowded cafes.

This post is my understanding of deep work. If you want the view of Cal Newport who popularized the term, read this Wisdom Hit:

In this Concept Crackdown:

• What deep work actually is

• Component 1: Preparation

• Component 2: Attention

• Component 3: Value creation

• Component 4: Mental recovery

• Summary bullet points

• How to make your work deep work

• Common mistakes to avoid

• Best resources on deep work

What deep work actually is

In one sentence: The skill to focus without distraction on cognitively demanding tasks for sustained periods.

Working smarter by creating internal and external conditions where your brain can operate at its highest capacity.

Deep work isn't sitting at your desk longer. It's a skill. Like any skill, it requires practice, proper technique, and gradual progression.

Active meditation, as I like to think about it.

Note: Not all work is deep work. Not all work needs to be deep work. It's reserved for complex, challenging tasks that require high mental capacity. Not daily, repetitive activities.

Deep work is 4 main components working together:

Preparation. Attention. Value creation. Mental recovery.

Component 1: Preparation

First things first: you must know what to do in the session.

Before you start, you need a concrete plan with tangibly described tasks to cross out. A clear, paved path for your brain to follow.

Instead of:

1. Write the newsletter.

Make it:

1. Pick a topic from the saved list.

2. Come up with a title and subtitle.

3. Outline with short notes under each headline.

4. Write the intro and first section.

5. Complete the body paragraphs.

6. Proofread, edit.

7. Design thumbnail.

Clear instructions so you don't have to think about next steps. All your mental energy goes into execution.

Warmup

1. Your brain needs a signal that it's time to switch into deep work mode.

2. In creative work, it takes some time to get the engine running smoothly. When I write, I often have to sit for 40 minutes deleting and rewriting the intro over and over before things click and words start spilling out on my keyboard.

Mine is simple:

1. Close all browser tabs except the work document, timer, and task list.

2. Write what I specifically have to do, like above.

I also have a “focus indicator” on my desk.

The idea is to give your brain a visual representation of entering “work mode”. What I do is put the figurine on my desk and tap it 2 times on its head every time I am about to work. This is a kind of signal that the focus block just started.

From:

Action: Before your next deep work session, spend 5+ minutes writing down the exact steps you'll take. Be so specific that someone else could follow your plan and complete the task. Clear checkpoints, like in a video game.

Component 2: Attention

This is where most people completely miss the point.

Attention isn't binary. It's not focused or distracted. It's more like a muscle that gets stronger with training and weaker with abuse.

Common mistake: Switching attention mid-session. Even checking a single email interrupts the flow state. Quick notification check doesn't feel like it costs anything, but it's like throwing a small stone on the surface of water.

During the session, you work on one thing and one thing only. Obligatory rule, no exceptions.

Attention management means:

• Single-tasking religiously: One task for a given time, hit F11 on your keyboard. Period.

• Batch distractions: There’s time for shallow and deep work. Defend your deep work time like your paycheck depends on it (it does). Shallow tasks often consist of actions that take less than 15 minutes/each, which means switching attention before you get deep is necessary. Assign time for them, but never mix with deep work sessions.

• Progressive overload: Mental gym is a cool little metaphor that I like. Depending on your level, but if you spend 2+ hours on TikTok daily, don't jump straight to 4-hour marathons.

• Exercise vs supplementation: Deep work skill is exercise. Putting your phone in another room and distraction blockers is supplementation. Nothing will stop you from scrolling TikTok if you really want to do it.

• Use when it’s here: I know many of you have exhausting 9-5’s. Best thing I can advise you here is to go to bed earlier and wake up an hour (minimum) before your normal schedule, and make it deep work time.

Be ruthless about protecting your attention during deep work hours. And I don’t have any magic trick here. It’s a damn hard habit to develop. I got something that will help you do so, though.

Environmental attention design (remember it’s only supplementation):

• Use website blockers.

• Phone in another room.

• Noise-cancelling headphones.

• Close unnecessary browser tabs.

• Non alcoholic drink of your choice (with caffeine, preferably).

• Clear your desk of everything except what you need for this specific task.

More here:

Action: For one week, track every time you switch tasks or check a distraction during work. Don't try to change anything yet, observe. Tape a sheet of paper on your desk (like one from my tracker) so you remember to log.

Component 3: Value creation

It's not about how many hours you log.

At the end of the day, all that matters is how much you got done. Busy doesn’t equal productive.

You can spend 8 hours and end up shocked by how little you have done. You can spend 18 minutes moving forward.

Drop the vanity metrics:

• Hours logged.

• Apps used.

• Number of Pomodoro timers completed.

Focus on outputs:

• Problems solved.

• Words written.

• Concepts learned.

• Tasks completed (and what completion of those means).

The question isn't "How long did I work?" It's "What did I create?"

I recommend doing outputs summary every evening. Although I log my sessions, those are just numbers in Excel. What I do to realize is writing down what I’ve done today and what for.

Shallow work = necessary admin stuff, maintance.

Deep work = creating value, moving the needle.

Action: After your next deep work session, immediately write down what you completed.

Psst… Reedition of “Short Practical Guide to Mental Health” is now out! Real tools, tested in real struggles. You will not find vague advice or feel-good stuff. Just the exact methods I used to get out of my worst ruts.

If you want practical steps, reset protocols, social detox tools, and mental clarity without the jargon, this is for you.

📘 Grab your copy here — Make a gift to your future self!

Component 4: Mental recovery

Deep work is cognitively exhausting. Your brain, despite making up about 2% of total body weight, consumes about 20% of your body's energy.

Your brain continues processing information subconsciously during rest periods. Ever notice how solutions come to you in the shower or during walks? That's your default mode network connecting dots while your focused attention relaxes.

• After sessions: Take downtime to consolidate what you learned/did, and restore mental energy. This is when insights form and problems solve themselves. Catching a breath while running is forced by body, letting the mind breathe is not, but as important. Take a nap, go for a walk.

• Recovery day: Every 2 weeks plan at least one full day where you don't do any cognitively demanding work. I know you can, but that’s to avoid burnout.

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Know when to stop

Quality over quantity. Correcting the mistakes of exhausted you is stupid self-sabotage. Trying to do deep work all day is like trying to sprint a marathon.

Don’t push when it’s time to rest. Staying up late when you must wake up at 6 am is not productive, it’s stupid.

1. Tired, you make mistakes that are harder to fix than to start over the next day.

2. You will have to get that energy back from somewhere. You will have to get that sleep anyway, but at different hours.

As I said before, deep work requires high mental capacity. Tiredness and distractions are enemies of it. Deep work performance is directly linked to sleep quality. If you are getting little of it, you are operating at reduced cognitive capacity. No amount of coffee can substitute for proper rest.

Summary points

• Deep work is for cognitively demanding tasks.

• Better to sleep 8 hours and get 2 hours of work done than sleep 6 hours and get 4 hours of work “done”.

• Deep work requires your mind (therefore your body) to be well rested.

• Optimal time: No more than 4h/day.

• Session lenght: 90min.

• Preparation time: 10 minutes of planning/90, not counted as the session.

• Progress tracking: Write down specific output after every session.

• Weekly quota: 20 hours of true deep work per week is truly elite-level productivity. Most people achieve 2-3 hours.

I know it’s a lot of info. If it all sounds terrifying, keep in mind that in the age of distraction, this skill is not a default anymore and more valuable than ever.

How to make your work deep work

In practical steps.

Read more

Turns out, that's exactly when the magic begins.

17 half-finished newsletters. A course outline from 2022, a book manuscript at chapter 4, three different business plans, a YouTube channel with 2 videos still on my hard drive. Each one felt like THE breakthrough when I started. Each one died the moment it stopped being fun and started being work. Choosing fonts and colors is more fun than actual work. Why?

It’s exciting until it’s not

The most important work is when you lose excitement in the project.

Wave of initial excitement, the vision of what it will look like once it’s done, what benefits it will bring, and how you will brag about it is a powerful motivator… for a while.

Once that wears off, it’s easier than ever to drop it and never come back. You are at stage 3, and you have to push through it. Look at the 4 stages below:

Let’s go deeper with those:

1. Getting the idea: You feel like a genius and imagine yourself as the next Sam Altman. Not much else matters.

2. Peak excitement: You don’t see, or ignore, what can potentially go wrong/not work at all. You are getting fired up with the idea, think about the rewards and how great they will be. A rough image forms in your mind.

3. First days, first doubts: As you start working on the project, you encounter obstacles that you didn't even know could be there. Motivation drops, comfort zone is calling.

4. Seeing the first results: Despite, you continued onward. Things aren’t rainbows and butterflies anymore, but the potential is real. You realize how much work it will actually take. Momentum is built, and it’s slowly getting more difficult to abandon the project than to continue to go on with it.

That’s assuming the idea is good. If you want to sell ice to Eskimos, drop it at the start.

The steps after getting a “brilliant” idea should look like this:

1. Idea.

2. Analysis: Is it actually worth my time and money?

3. Decision: Help yourself with SWOT, decision-making matrix, or just creating a simple mind map in XMind.

4. Plan:

   1. What are tangible actions I need to take?

   2. How much time, money/other resources?

   3. How that interfere my schedule?

   4. What’s the rough likelihood of setbacks, what are they?

   5. What is the prize?

If you struggle with decision-making on a daily basis, read:

There’s also a whole chapter in the book dedicated to indecisiveness. Subscribe and you will get a link today!

Reedition of my book “Short Practical Guide to Mental Health” premieres today! For the first 2 days at a promo price!

Good idea, or just my idea?

Again: Is it objectively a good, high-potential idea, or you want to pursue it because it feels like you've come up with something special?

Answer:

• Will I be able to pull this off? No? Then stop mental masturbation.

• What's my realistic timeline, and am I being honest about how long this takes?

• Am I doing it because of money, status/other rewards that I care about more than the project? Or am I doing it because I’m both passionate and want rewards?

  For me, no amount of money will make me enjoy something I don’t give a shit about. The first way = burnout and low-quality work, just to get it off. The second = enjoyment and long-term drive.

You know it’s good? Ok, so what’s your goal with this? You need metrics.

Example 1, business: book release

• Goal: Sell 80 copies in the first two days.

• Metric: copies sold.

For that metric, it’s not only how good the book is. You can be the best writer ever, but nobody will read your book if you don’t have the distribution.

Disappointing, I know. But writing a good book is only 1/4 of the job here.

And in that case, I keep in mind that my way is not necessarily the best-selling way.

Example 2, personal: fitness

• Goal: Get in the best shape of my life.

• Metrics: Bench press bodyweight, run 5K under 25 minutes, maintain for 6+ months.

Notice I made metrics specific, measurable, trackable, and tied to the goal, not just vanity numbers.

Example 3, unusual passion project: just for fun

• Recreate a nearby park in Minecraft.

• Metrics: Include 10 key landmarks (playground, pond, main paths, benches, etc.), finish within park boundaries from Google Maps.

Even if that’s a 100% passion project for pure satisfaction, you need a compass. If you want to build a local park in Minecraft just for fun, you need to know when you are done and can feel satisfied with what you have accomplished. Otherwise, you will either abandon it halfway through or keep tweaking forever without ever feeling the completion satisfaction you are seeking.

There’s one important thing related to this I haven’t mentioned—shiny objects syndrome. That’s because I have already covered this problem here:

Reply to this email and tell me about your abandoned projects.

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Upcoming next Thursday: Concept Crackdown—breaking down general concepts into tangible knowledge. Topic: Deep work.

As a Stanford psychologist, she's researched what separates high achievers from everyone else across schools, sports, business, and relationships.

I picked this book because it explains something I have observed but couldn't articulate: why some people bounce back from failures while others crumble?

Today, you will gain a deep understanding of the differences between these two ways of thinking through examples in:

1. Dealing with challenges.

2. Leadership.

3. Relationships.

4. An illustrative story.

5. Questions to identify which mindset you are closer to!

Growth & fixed mindsets

This is the main lesson from the book. If you grasp its essence, there’s not much left in it. It’s one of those books that heavily relies on a single concept and explores it for many pages, which doesn’t mean it’s not immensely valuable!

That’s why, instead of the usual format of the 5 most important lessons, I decided to identify the core features of both mindsets and deeply analyze them with tangible examples.

The book in one sentence: Your beliefs about where ability comes from (whether you think success is based on innate ability or developed through effort) determine everything.

The core concept is solidly backed up by studies described in the book. There are a lot of examples, studies, athletes, and other hyper achievers mentioned.

All quotes are from “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” by Carol S. Dweck. If you liked the post, get the book here (affiliate).

Fixed mindset:

Intelligence, talent, and abilities are static traits. You either have them or you don't. Success comes from proving you are naturally gifted. Effort is a sign of inadequacy because truly talented people shouldn't need to try hard.

Every situation becomes a test of your worth. Challenges threaten to expose your limitations, so it's safer to stick with what you already know you can do well.

Core beliefs

• Highly sensitive to criticism and failure, which are interpreted as proof of inadequacy.

• I either got talent or I don’t, and there’s not much else I can do about it.

• Success means proving you are naturally gifted.

• Looking for something or someone to blame.

• Egocentric focus: afraid to look incompetent or flawed.

• Avoid risks and challenges that might expose weaknesses.

Dealing with challenges

Fixed mindset people avoid challenges that might reveal inadequacy. When they face obstacles, they give up quickly because struggle means they lack natural ability.

Example: In Dweck's studies, students with fixed mindsets chose easier problems after failing difficult ones, even when told their performance wouldn't be evaluated. They preferred to look smart over learning something new. When these students hit academic challenges, their grades continued declining because they interpreted difficulty as proof they weren't "math people" or "good writers."

As soon as children become able to evaluate themselves, some of them become afraid of challenges. They become afraid of not being smart. I have studied thousands of people from preschoolers on, and it’s breathtaking how many reject an opportunity to learn.

We offered four-year-olds a choice: They could redo an easy jigsaw puzzle or they could try a harder one. Even at this tender age, children with the fixed mindset—the ones who believed in fixed traits—stuck with the safe one. Kids who are born smart “don’t do mistakes,” they told us.

If you are a parent, this book is a must-read. There’s a lot about how certain ways of talking to children influence their mindsets.

Leadership

Fixed mindset leaders surround themselves with people who won't challenge them. They take credit for successes and blame others for failures. They are threatened by talented subordinates because it might make them look less exceptional. They prioritize protecting their ego over what’s good for the organization, even if it’s the organization they own. They want to be the smartest in the room.

Example: Dweck contrasts Lee Iacocca (fixed mindset, Chrysler) with Jack Welch (growth mindset, General Electric. About Welch’s later career—keep in mind the book was released in 2006. At that time and context, the example was on point.) Iacocca became obsessed with his image as a business genius, stopped listening to feedback, and Chrysler declined. He blamed external factors and refused to adapt. Companies led by fixed mindset CEOs underperform because these leaders prioritize looking good over getting good.

Context: Refers to a study conducted by Dweck and colleagues at the University of Hong Kong, which explored how students with different mindsets approached the opportunity to improve their English skills. At the university, all courses, exams, and materials were in English, but not all students were proficient. Researchers asked students if they would take a high-quality remedial English course if it were offered.

Remember the study where we interviewed students from the University of Hong Kong? […] Students with the fixed mindset were so worried about appearing deficient that they refused to take a course that would improve their English. They did not live in a psychological world where they could take this risk.

And remember how we put students into a fixed mindset by praising their intelligence? […] Later, after some hard problems, we asked the students to write a letter to someone in another school describing their experience in our study. When we read their letters, we were shocked: Almost 40 percent of them had lied about their scores—always in the upward direction. The fixed mindset had made a flaw intolerable.

Gladwell concludes that when people live in an environment that esteems them for their innate talent, they have grave difficulty when their image is threatened: “They will not take the remedial course. They will not stand up to investors and the public and admit that they were wrong. They’d sooner lie.”

Obviously, a company that cannot self-correct cannot thrive.

If Enron was done in by its fixed mindset, does it follow that companies that thrive have a growth mindset? Let’s see.

Relationships

In relationships, fixed mindset people judge their partners for flaws and expect them never to change. They believe that if you have to work at a relationship, it means you are incompatible. Problems are seen as character defects rather than issues to work through together.

Example: Fixed mindset individuals often end relationships when conflicts arise because they interpret disagreements as proof of fundamental incompatibility. They might think, "If we were meant to be together, this would be easy." They avoid having difficult conversations that could strengthen the relationship and clarify expectations because addressing problems feels like admitting failure.

Spoiler: There are no 2 people exactly cut out for themselves.

Aaron Beck, noted marriage authority, says that one of the most destructive beliefs for a relationship is “If we need to work at it, there’s something seriously wrong with our relationship.”

Says John Gottman, a foremost relationship researcher: “Every marriage demands an effort to keep it on the right track; there is a constant tension between the forces that hold you together and those that can tear you apart.”

As with personal achievement, this belief—that success should not need effort—robs people of the very thing they need to make their relationship thrive. It’s probably why so many relationships go stale—because people believe that being in love means never having to do anything taxing.

Growth mindset:

Intelligence, talent, and abilities can be developed through effort, learning, and persistence. Success comes from continuous improvement. Effort is the path to mastery. Even the most talented people need to work hard to reach their potential.

Every situation is an opportunity to learn something new. Challenges are exciting because that's where growth happens.

Example: Students praised for effort ("You worked really hard on that!") performed better on subsequent tasks than students praised for intelligence ("You're so smart!"). The effort-praised students sought out harder problems because they understood that struggle leads to learning. They saw difficult tasks as opportunities to get smarter.

Core beliefs

• Failure is just a part of the learning process.

• Persistence leads to improvement.

• Success comes through continuous improvement.

• Taking responsibility and seeking to improve is essential.

• Care about getting good more than being perceived as good.

• If they are incompetent, they ask questions and want to improve.

Dealing with challenges

Growth mindset people seek out challenges because they understand that's where learning happens. When they face setbacks, they persist and try different strategies because failure is just information about what doesn't work.

Example: In business, growth mindset entrepreneurs treat failed ventures as expensive education. They extract lessons, adjust their approach, and try again. Sara Blakely, founder of Spanx, talks about how her father would ask her and her brother at dinner what they failed at that day, teaching them that failure was a necessary part of learning and growth.

Same fragment with puzzles for comparison:

Children with the growth mindset—the ones who believed you could get smarter—thought it was a strange choice. Why are you asking me this, lady? Why would anyone want to keep doing the same puzzle over and over? They chose one hard one after another. “I’m dying to figure them out!” exclaimed one little girl.

So children with the fixed mindset want to make sure they succeed. Smart people should always succeed. But for children with the growth mindset, success is about stretching themselves. It’s about becoming smarter.

One seventh-grade girl summed it up. “I think intelligence is something you have to work for ... it isn’t just given to you. . . . Most kids, if they’re not sure of an answer, will not raise their hand to answer the question. But what I usually do is raise my hand, because if I’m wrong, then my mistake will be corrected. Or I will raise my hand and say, ‘How would this be solved?’ or ‘I don’t get this. Can you help me?’ Just by doing that I’m increasing my intelligence.”

Leadership

Growth mindset leaders hire people who challenge them and aren't threatened by others' success. They focus on developing their teams and organizations rather than protecting their own image. They take responsibility for failures and share credit for successes. At the start of the chapter, there are a few examples of CEO’s

Example: Jack Welch transformed GE by creating a culture of continuous learning and development. He looked for feedback, admitted mistakes, and focused on growing the capabilities of his organization rather than just his reputation. Growth mindset leaders create environments where people can take intelligent risks and learn from failures without fear of punishment.

Atmosphere of fear is not good for employees nor for employers. How many times have you had a good idea at a meeting but realized it would bring you additional responsibilities with no extra cash, so you stayed quiet?

Speaking of reigning from atop a pedestal and wanting to be seen as perfect, you won’t be surprised that this is often called “CEO disease.” Lee Iacocca had a bad case of it. After his initial success as head of Chrysler Motors, Iacocca looked remarkably like our four-year-olds with the fixed mindset. He kept bringing out the same car models over and over with only superficial changes. Unfortunately, they were models no one wanted anymore.

Meanwhile, Japanese companies were completely rethinking what cars should look like and how they should run. We know how this turned out. The Japanese cars rapidly swept the market.

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Relationships

In relationships, growth mindset people support each other's development and view conflicts as problems to solve together. They believe that with effort and communication, relationships can improve over time. They see their partner's flaws as areas for potential growth, not permanent character defects.

Example: Growth mindset couples approach relationship problems by asking "How can we work on this together?" rather than "Why are you like this?" They have difficult conversations because they believe the relationship can get stronger through addressing issues. They support each other's growth and development instead of feeling threatened when their partner improves in some area.

When people embark on a relationship, they encounter a partner who is different from them, and they haven’t learned how to deal with the differences. In a good relationship, people develop these skills and, as they do, both partners grow and the relationship deepens. But for this to happen, people need to feel they’re on the same side.

Laura was lucky. She could be self-centered and defensive. She could yell and pout. But James never took it personally and always felt that she was there for him when he needed her. So when she lashed out, he calmed her down and made her talk things through with him. Over time, she learned to skip the yelling and pouting.

As an atmosphere of trust developed, they became vitally interested in each other’s development. James was forming a corporation, and Laura spent hours with him discussing his plans and some of the problems he was encountering. Laura had always dreamed of writing children’s books. James got her to spell out her ideas and write a first draft. He urged her to contact someone they knew who was an illustrator. In the context of this relationship, each partner was helping the other to do the things they wanted to do and become the person they wanted to be.

Apart from romantic relationships, there’s also a part about friendship in the book.

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How to grow your mindset

We talked about one of the issues in last week’s post:

There’s another one I selected from comparing both mindsets. That’s something that will keep you stuck and declining afterwards, and one of the core features of the fixed mindset—being scared of looking bad. I will illustrate it with a short story about 2 workers in a Japanese packing company: Kenji and Minato.

Story to illustrate, all similarities to real people are coincidental.

The packaging company

Minato straightened his tie as he walked past the new employee orientation room. Through the glass, he saw a young man enthusiastically asking questions about quality control procedures. Typical rookie energy, he thought. He'll learn soon enough to keep his head down.

That rookie was Kenji, and he was indeed full of questions.

The senior employee

Minato had been with Kozutsumi Packaging for eight years. He occupied a comfortable middle management position, overseeing the production line for their premium gift box division. His desk was positioned perfectly. Close enough to the executive offices to feel important, far enough from the factory floor to avoid getting his hands dirty.

But comfort came with a price. Every morning brought a familiar knot in his stomach. What if today was the day someone discovered he wasn't as competent as his position suggested? What if the new automation systems exposed gaps in his knowledge? What if he will struggle to understand the new CRM software while his younger subordinates learn it fast? What if someone asked him a question he couldn't answer?

When the company introduced lean manufacturing principles, Minato nodded along in meetings but avoided volunteering for the pilot program. Too risky. When his manager suggested he attend the advanced logistics training in Osaka, he declined, citing "private concerns." When junior employees brought problems to his attention, he deflected them to other departments rather than risk revealing he didn't know the solutions.

His strategy was simple: maintain the illusion of competence by avoiding anything that might challenge it.

The new guy

Kenji started in the same division three months later, stacking boxes and learning the basics. While Minato focused on preserving his reputation, Kenji focused on understanding everything he could about the company’s systems.

"Minato-san," Kenji approached him during his second week, "I noticed our rejection rate spikes every Tuesday morning. Do you know why?"

Minato felt his stomach tighten. He'd noticed the same pattern but never investigated it—what if he couldn't solve it? "The quality control team handles those issues," he replied curtly.

Kenji didn't stop there. He talked to the quality control team, the night shift supervisor, even the maintenance crew and janitor. He discovered that the weekend cleaning crew was using a chemical that left residue on the machines, affecting Monday night production that was processed Tuesday morning.

When Kenji presented his findings to management, they were impressed. When they asked Minato why he hadn't identified this obvious pattern in his eight years overseeing the line, he had no good answer.

This was just the beginning.

What happened next reveals exactly how these two mindsets create completely different career trajectories. You will see the automation challenge that exposed Minato's limitations, watch his world unravel as his fear of looking incompetent made him genuinely incompetent, and discover which specific mindset traps might be sabotaging your own growth right now.

The story gets much more intense - and much more instructive.

The automation challenge

Read more

Two weeks later, he misunderstood an assignment and looked stupid in a meeting

Suddenly, Adam is questioning everything he has accomplished. His entire sense of self-worth just got hijacked by a single moment.

That's Somebody-Nobody Syndrome. And it's keeping more people stuck than anyone wants to admit.

If the post feels relatable, there’s a breaking of the somebody-nobody cycle protocol at the very end. It’s a 21-day journey of following daily journal prompts + help resources.

Available in the premium library with the rest of the frameworks.

The syndrome explained

Somebody-Nobody Syndrome is a mindset where your self-worth becomes a hostage to external results.

If I win, I'm somebody.

If I lose, I'm nobody.

Your entire identity gets tied to outcomes you can't always control.

Most people don't even realize they have it. They think that emotional rollercoaster is normal. That the Sunday night anxiety before a big presentation is just "caring about your work." That the crushing shame after a mistake is "high standards."

It's not. It's psychological quicksand.

Your self-worth swings like a pendulum. One day you are on top of the world, the next you are convinced you are a fraud.

Same person, same capabilities, completely different sense of self.

The dangerous thing is that you can still fall for it, even when you know it exists.

Next Thursday: Breaking down “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” by Carol S. Dweck in Wisdom Hit Series!

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How it shows up

Your mood is easily impacted.

There’s no stable baseline for your self-worth, it’s either all or nothing.

You post something, then obsessively check reactions.

High engagement = I’m a God.

Low engagement = maybe I'm not as smart after all.

I don't mean feeling proud or disappointed. I mean putting your self-worth on a light switch that flips from bright to pitch black as soon as something insignificant to the whole image of yourself happens.

The highest risk is when you are entering a new field with no previous evidence to show yourself you can do it.

Strong fundamentals matter, but mindset matters more.

Michael Jordan lost 8 games in a row with the Wizards. What did he feel at the 8th? I doubt it was doubt. When you know you are able and have the will to learn, you won’t be crushed by failures and blinded by successes.

Who’s most vulnerable?

Gifted kids.

If your identity was built around being exceptional, some challenges will feel like a threat to your core self.

Early success creates fragile egos. When things come easily, you never develop resilience. Your confidence becomes dependent on everything going right. The moment something doesn't, your whole sense of self crumbles.

Smart people suffer most because they are used to being right. They have built their identity around having the answers. When they don't, when they fail, when they struggle—it doesn't just feel bad, it feels like they are not who they thought they were. Identity problem.

The real damage

When you are in “Somebody” stage:

• You start avoiding opportunities, because what if you fail and become nobody? The fear of losing your "somebody" status keeps you playing small. You'd rather stay safe than risk emotional devastation of not measuring up.

• You can't enjoy success without someone else confirming it's real. People get exhausted being your emotional life support system.

• You are so focused on what failure would mean for your identity that you can't focus on doing the work. The pressure to maintain your somebody status becomes what destroys it.

When you are in “Nobody” stage:

• You withdraw from opportunities. Why try when you are clearly not good enough? Failure feels like proof of your inadequacy, so you stop putting yourself out there. Better to stay invisible than risk more evidence that you don't belong.

• Every past success suddenly feels like luck. You convince yourself you have been fooling everyone, and it's only a matter of time before they figure out you are a fraud.

• You become paralyzed by perfectionism. If you are already nobody, the next attempt has to be flawless to prove you are worthy again. Pressure becomes so intense that you either never start or abandon projects before completion.

Realization: how to change

1 in 100,000 holds little significance.

I mentioned before that it’s easy to fall into this mental trap even if you know about it, but the main cure here is awareness.

Awareness that one doesn’t define the whole. It’s insignificant. One good decision in a sea of choices doesn’t make you a genius. One bad day in decades of living doesn’t make life bad.

“In 58 years of Berkshire management, most of my capital‑allocation decisions have been no better than so‑so. Our satisfactory results have been the product of about a dozen truly good decisions – that would be about one every five years.”

— Warren Buffett

Don’t stop caring about the outcomes.

Stop letting a single outcome hijack your entire sense of self and throw you off track.

One match lost is not the end of a sports career. One win doesn’t mean you will be a sports star.

One bad newsletter doesn’t mean I’m a bad writer. One good doesn’t mean I’m a good one.

More about this, mindsets (fixed, growth), and other things that will allow you to change your identity next week.

Scroll to the very end for the deep dive actionable 21-day sheet 👇

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To read next:

Breaking the Somebody-Nobody Cycle: 21-Day Journal Prompts + Help Resources:

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In this Mind Bullet:

• Anti-To-Do: flip the script.

• Done list.

• Minimum viable consistency.

• You might be doing enough, you just might not do enough of what matters.

• Tower Brick: Actionable step to make yourself 1% better (includes a printable Google Doc with both lists).

• Prompt for clarity.

• Power Quote.

• One valuable resource I’ve found this week.

Anti-To-Do: flip the script

I don’t have to explain what a to-do list is, but what’s an anti to-do list?

Instead of writing down things you want to get done, you write down things you want to avoid.

Mine for today is:

• Don’t spend more than 15 minutes on Instagram.

• Don’t move to the next task before I finish the current one.

• Don’t watch YouTube while eating.

• Don’t complain.

• Don’t drink.

Simple as that. Write down things that you know will be bad for your progress.

When it’s time for fun, it’s time for fun. But when you need to push the pedal to the floor, identifying what you don’t want to do comes in handy.

When to check things off the list? At the end of the day, or when you stay strong during the chance to do whatever it is you want to avoid, and won’t have another one for today.

If you want to visually see the consistency of your habits, use my tracker.

Done list

When you wake up, do you feel like you are already behind?

Do you feel like “I need to make up for yesterday”?

Start at zero.

Instead of writing down things you need to do, you write down things you already did.

Mine from yesterday:

• Replied to 12 emails.

• Took a 30-minute walk.

• Workout: legs.

• Finished editing 2 chapters.

• Made dinner.

• Finished newsletter draft.

• Changed tires.

Simple as that. Write down what you accomplished, no matter how small.

To-do lists are great and all, but can become overwhelming debt collectors. Every morning, it reminds you of what you haven't done. If it grows longer, not shorter—try out this.

A done list is the opposite. Proof you are moving forward.

When to add to the list? Whenever you complete something worth noting.

Effects show in weeks and months. A single day can blend in and feel wasted. The goal is to remind yourself that you are making progress day by day.

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Minimum viable consistency

Unlike your computer, you can't be on all the time.

16h workday, hustle, no sleep—that’s not the way to do anything mentally demanding.

In short bursts of time, achievable for a very few. In the long term, unrealistic and unproductive for all.

Sometimes your days will get busy due to external factors. If you still want to make progress, then:

1. Identify your focus window: what time of the day makes you perform best? Morning? (More energy).

2. Evening? (Fewer distractions).

3. Set your focus windows. About 45–90 minutes. Adjust alarms accordingly.

4. Make it your absolutely, 100% sacred time. No matter what, you do what you planned. Becomes easier with each completed section if you stick with it.

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You might be doing enough, you just might not do enough of what matters

“Do you think I’m stupid?” No.

I think you may be lying to yourself.

You are busy. You are working. You are checking things off lists. But are you moving the needle on what actually matters?

Motion isn’t progress. Being busy isn’t being productive.

It’s very easy to make that mistake, especially when circumstances change and once established routines and actions don’t. That’s why you should reflect and adjust from time to time.

Quick exercise for identifying the most important actions:

1. Write down “What I can do to achieve my goal over the next 12 months”?

2. Write at least 15 answers to that question.

3. Out of all the answers, which one are you sure will make the most impact in the least amount of time?

4. Cross out all other answers and make an actionable plan for the answer that won the battle royale.

Tower Brick

To write down now. From Monday to Today:

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When I sat down at my desk to write this, I couldn't come up with a single sentence that made sense.

But I did it anyway. I know that creative block is normal, comes sometimes and you have to fight it like an illness, with medicine.

Here are 5.

The difference between simple and difficult

Working out is difficult, but it’s stupidly simple.

You will never hear someone saying, “Man, I didn’t finish that workout because I didn’t know how to put a plate on the barbell.”

You will hear “I didn’t work out yesterday because I didn’t feel like going to the gym.”

That’s lack of motivation, and it’s not the case with creative block. Here, you want to do something, but you don’t know how. Your mind is bricked.

You know the tools and shortcuts in Photoshop, you know how to write, you know how to edit videos. It’s easy, but not uncomplicated, for those times, this post is for.

1. Unquestionable 45-minute warmup

The Rule: No matter what, sit through the first 45 minutes.

Sometimes you need to force yourself before the spark hits and the fire starts burning. That's the most powerful technique in this inventory. It may take less, it may take longer, but the inspiration strikes eventually.

45 minutes is long enough to get rid of the initial resistance. Like a rusty faucet: the first water that comes out is brown and gross, but if you keep it running, eventually it runs clear.

On those bad days, when you feel dumber than usual, most people quit after a few minutes. If work is not obligatory, they leave it for tomorrow.

By minute 45, you are either in flow or you have enough garbage to find something worth keeping.

Set a timer. No distractions. Just you and the work. Even if what comes out is terrible. Train yourself to show up on bad days too. Consistency beats inspiration every time.

2. Go for a walk

The Rule: When you are stuck mentally, get unstuck physically.

No earphones, preferably forest.

The solution isn't always at your desk. Sometimes it's three blocks away.

When you are walking, your brain switches from focused attention to diffuse attention.

Focused attention is what you use when you are trying to solve a problem directly. Diffuse attention is what lets your brain make unexpected connections.

That's why you get shower thoughts. Your brain isn't actively trying to solve the problem, so it has space to find solutions you couldn't see when you were forcing it.

1. Start so you have a general idea of what needs to be done and clues on how (45 min).

2. Go for a walk to refresh your mind. (20-30 min).

3. Return to work for another 45 minutes.

4. Still no ideas? If it isn’t urgent, leave it to ripen and do something else today.

Remember when fast internet wasn’t a common thing and we had to leave movies and YouTube videos to buffer?

Good idea to do the same with your mind. If the deadline isn’t 2 hours from now, leave it and come back tomorrow. The first seed is planted, you know what there is to do, and that will not vanish from your head anytime soon. Let it ripen.

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3. “Good enough” is sometimes your 100%

Reality Check: Your creativity baseline is relatively stable, but external factors affect it daily.

You can control your sleep, diet, and optimize everything to be in the best mental and physical shape, but there are too many external factors to have 100% control over your creative output.

A master's lowest point of baseline is way better than the highest point of someone just starting.

That’s just natural progression. Your skills are there, and you are getting better over time. Your best few years ago is mid now. If you look at your old stuff and don’t see anything to improve, you made no progress.

The bottom line is: you won’t always be able to create your best work, and that’s something to make peace with.

As directors have one beloved movie, they have few that aren’t great.

As you find a song you instantly fall in love with, you find out that the rest of the artist’s catalogue isn’t that good.

As you read a great book, the author had ones that landed in a drawer.

This step is the least actionable, but I want you to keep this in mind. It will help you push through when perfect isn't available.

If you don't create anything because it's not your best, you get nothing.

I have published posts that I thought were mediocre, only to have them perform better than pieces I spent weeks perfecting.

The market doesn't grade your work the same way you do.

Your internal critic is not your audience. Stop letting it make editorial decisions.

Build a habit that sticks in 40 days with the See Yourself Growing Habit Tracker!

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4. Silence and analyze

This technique has two parts that work together to clear mental clutter.

Part 1: Silence

By silence, I mean: do nothing.

Meditate, sit, and stare at a wall. Let your mind process without input.

I bet you had at least one great idea in the shower or in bed, trying to sleep.

I have never met an anxious person who meditates for an hour a day. Read this:

Part 2: Analyze

By analyze I mean: journal, write what’s on your mind.

I find it best to write in the second person. Nothing unclogs the mind like a session of writing what’s on it.

Sometimes creative block is about too many thoughts fighting for attention.

Silence clears the noise. Analysis organizes what's left. Together, they give clarity.

Steps to use next time:

1. Set a timer for 10 minutes. Sit without any input: no music, no thoughts, no distractions. Don't try to solve anything. Just observe what comes up. Meditate in other words.

2. Write for 10 minutes, whatever’s on your mind. Dump it all onto paper.

Extra quick reset like that will work like unclogging fluid.

5. Fuel yourself

Reading works the best here.

You see, when you have set your mind on some micro purpose, which is your work behind the creative block at the moment, your mind will search for ways to solve it.

Your brain is constantly filtering information based on what matters to you. If you are not intentional about what you focus on, you will end up absorbing random, unhelpful ideas instead of the ones that actually move you forward.

What if you could train your mind to filter for success? To spot patterns, connect the dots, extract insights that change your life?

Four people watching the same movie will pay attention to different things depending on their goals and motivations.

A bodybuilder will pay attention to actors’ physiques and google their training plans.

A fashion geek will wonder what brands they put actors in.

A guy starting to bald will carefully inspect every character's hairline.

A schizophrenic will… notice something the rest of us don’t.

Same input, different takeaways. Your mind filters information based on what matters to you. This principle applies to everything you consume and participate in—books, podcasts, conversations.

The ideas you focus on shape your reality. You don’t see everything—you see what aligns with your goals, fears, and obsessions.

From:

Sometimes you just don’t have enough grasp on a thing to make a decent whole.

Sometimes you need to learn and gather inspiration. Creative work is mostly remixing. Shot you have seen watching a movie, a sentence that stuck with you, a photo that brought out a hidden memory, a story where the protagonist is relatable.

Those things are saved and reinterpreted in your mind. You can’t create without consuming.

When you are born, your mind is mostly a blank book that gets filled up as you go on with your life.

1. Input.

2. Remix.

3. Output.

That's what creates the best work.

There’s no shame in taking inspiration.

Bryan Cranston said that the character of Walter White was inspired by James Gandolfini's (absolutely great) performance as Tony Soprano.

If you consume great content, it slowly becomes a part of your identity. You are what you think of most of the time, and what you think of most of the time is determined by your inputs, including what you consume.

That advice is for the long term. If you want to instantly relieve creative block, start with these above.

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Not because it's a bad question, but because it’s like asking someone how to "be successful" or "get healthy."

It's not one thing. It's a collection of very specific, very boring micro-habits that nobody wants to talk about because they are not sexy enough for Instagram captions.

So let's crack this concept wide open.

What Discipline Actually Is

If I had to explain discipline in one sentence, I would say: “Repetitively doing hard things even when you don’t feel like it.” It’s a form of self-respect, the highest one.

How easy it is for you to wake up early and not skip leg days has to do with brain chemistry.

At the center of it is a balance between two key systems: the prefrontal cortex, which handles planning, self-control, and long-term goals, and parts of the limbic system, which are more reactive and emotion-driven.

The prefrontal cortex helps you make rational decisions, the limbic system pushes for immediate gratification and emotional comfort.

When it feels like you "lack discipline," it’s because your brain’s reward circuits are overriding your long-term thinking.

Willpower feels limited because mental fatigue and decision overload are real. Mental fatigue, stress, poor sleep, and constant decision making wear down your cognitive control.

That's why you are more likely to demolish a bag of chips at 11 PM than 11 AM.

This is an simplified description.

But you can hack this system.

You can set up your environment and behaviors to work with your brain's design instead of against it. You can automate decisions to preserve mental energy for when you really need it. You can build neural pathways that make good choices feel automatic.

That's what discipline actually is: neural pathway optimization.

Does it actually help you, knowing neuroscience stuff? Not really? So, let's crack this concept open now.

Discipline is 6 main components working together:

1. Long-term, short-term gratitude.

2. Identity shift.

3. Good decisions.

4. Environmental design.

5. Routine automation.

6. Recovery systems.

Component 1: Long-term, short-term gratitude

One thing to start with: Learning how to delay gratification is a must to be successful in life.

But, before it gets interesting, pushing through the work is boring as shit.

You crave immediate gratification because… it’s immediate.

So it has to do with your relationship with time. What that really means is that you have no instant reward after doing the hard thing.

When you do the hard thing—hit the gym, write for an hour, study instead of scrolling Instagram—there's no instant reward waiting for you. Just the work itself, which sucks.

But the reward is there. It’s much more satisfying and fulfilling than smoking a cigarette or binging a TV series for 5 hours straight. It’s just not there yet.

Trust me on this: after you build an impressive physique, it will be harder to stop lifting weights than to continue doing it.

If you start and have no consistency to carry with a thing for a few months, the idea of discipline in your head is associated with pain.

If you have never experienced a reward from the discipline, it’s gonna be tough for you.

That’s the trick with delayed gratification. The reward is better, but not instant.

But here's where it gets interesting: you can try to flip the script. You can get so hooked on the delayed rewards that immediate pleasure starts feeling cheap and hollow.

Become addicted to the process itself. A lot of young guys, after feeling the satisfaction of completing a hard workout and seeing the first changes in the shape of their body, become obsessed with the gym.

When you have experienced the satisfaction of building something meaningful over months, when you have tasted what it feels like to be proud of yourself—scrolling Twitter feels like empty calories. Because you have a comparison.

Like upgrading from gas station coffee to single-origin beans. Once you know what the good stuff tastes like, the cheap stuff just doesn't hit the same.

This happens because delayed gratification rewards compound.

Each cigarette is the same hit. But each workout builds on the last one. Each page you write adds to a book that eventually will be published. Keep writing and in a few months, you will show your family and friends a book and tell them that you have written it. Wouldn’t that be cool?

The reward gets stronger over time instead of staying flat.

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Action: Pick one small project that will be completed within a month. Commit to doing it every day for exactly 30 days. Track not just that you did it, but how you felt after. Rate your satisfaction from 1-10 each day. Create your first digital product, publish an iceberg YouTube video on the topic that interests you, set up a portfolio website. It has to be measurable and a reminder that you can.

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FUEL YOUR CREATIVE SUCCESS

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Component 2: Identity shift

This is about self-respect and ego. Long-term identity change, tangibility and action are the core of this newsletter.

“Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity.

This is one reason why meaningful change does not require radical change. Small habits can make a meaningful difference by providing evidence of a new identity. And if a change is meaningful, it is actually big. That’s the paradox of making small improvements.” — James Clear

Disciplined people aren't disciplined because they are special. They are disciplined because they consistently act like disciplined people, which reinforces their identity as disciplined people.

Identity shapes action.

No way you will be consistent with something if the current you hates every second of it.

It's like trying to get a smoker to not smoke while they still see themselves as a smoker.

It's like expecting a dog to meow.

You can't willpower your way out of an identity mismatch. The mind follows identity like a heat-seeking missile.

If you see yourself as lazy, undisciplined, or a quitter, your brain will find ways to prove that identity right.

If your core belief is “I can’t do it”, then guess what: you can’t.

Your mind loves being right more than it loves being better.

That’s why, do this:

• Reward small wins. (every workout is evidence you are athletic). Don’t reward yourself with a beer if you want to lose weight though.

• Use identity-based language ("I'm someone who works out" vs. "I'm trying to work out").

• Focus on systems, not outcomes. Writers write, regardless of whether today's pages are good). “I only write when inspiration strikes, fortunately it strikes every morning at 9 o'clock sharp.”

• Track behavior, not just results (you lifted weights = you are someone who lifts weights).

Your actions shape your identity, which shapes your future actions. It's a compound loop that either works for you or against you.

Collect enough evidence to tip the scales. You don't need to transform overnight, you just need enough votes to win the internal election.

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Sound familiar? We have all bought into the myth that creativity requires massive blocks of time. That real creatives pull all-nighters and emerge with masterpieces.

That's bullshit, and it's why most creative projects die.

All-nighter trap

Done it many times. 100% of them I had to fix most of my work the next day, as my tired brain made tons of mistakes.

Brilliant work at 3AM is a midass work at 3PM.

That leads to:

• The guilt. I feel like shit about the wasted time and poor results. Makes starting again harder.

• The false belief. I tell myself I needed those marathon sessions to do real work, so I would wait for the next opportunity to sacrifice sleep instead of working consistently.

• The irregular schedule. My creative work became feast or famine. Days of nothing, one all-nighter, days of nothing.

18 minutes for momentum

Why 18 minutes specifically?

It's long enough to make an impact, it’s short enough to commit easily. "I don't have 18 minutes" is harder to justify than "I don't have 2 hours."

And it’s not as common as 10 or 15, which makes it more of “your” thing. Goofy but works.

In 18 minutes you can write a short draft, sketch an idea, edit a photo, compose a melody. You can start something.

It creates easy momentum without burnout. You finish wanting more, not feeling drained.

Like dipping your feet in a cold pool. You make the first step that opens the door to another, then another. After you get in the pool, you get used to the water temperature and want to stay there for a while.

The same goes for this. Not all sessions will make you want to keep going but when you flow, you go.

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18 minutes in action

The 18-minute rule is simple: commit to 18 minutes every single day. Not when you feel inspired. Not when you have more time. Every. Single. Day.

Set a timer. When it goes off, you can stop or keep going—but the brick is placed.

• Choose your time block. Early morning or late night works best. First is more energy, second is fewer distractions. But lunch breaks work too, don’t overthink it. Just pick a time you can defend.

• Set up your system. Use your phone timer, a habit app, whatever works. I use Habitica for tasks and Clockify for tracking sessions.

• Track your progress. Mark an X on a calendar. Use a simple habit tracker. The visual reminder of your streak becomes an oddly satisfying motivation. What’s your record Duolingo streak? Can you repeat that streak with just 18 minutes of working on what you care about?

• Have your materials ready. Anything to remove friction between deciding to start and starting. If you don’t know what friction is, read the linked post above.

• Celebrate streaks. Finished day 7? Go out. Hit two weeks? Tell someone.

Handling the resistance

Of course, your brain will fight even 18 minutes. Let’s answer it:

• "I don't have 18 minutes." Yes, you do. You have 18 minutes for social media, email, random YouTube videos. This is about priorities, not time.

• "18 minutes isn't enough to do anything good." This is perfectionism disguised as standards. It’s not much, but it’s enough.

• "I missed a day, so I failed." One missed day doesn't erase your progress. Get back to it tomorrow. Consistency matters more than perfection. Keep the 2 days rule in mind.

But the main cause of not starting is a lack of clarity. You don’t have this problem with brushing your teeth, creative work is a different story.

More here:

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What 18 minutes actually get you

I promised tangibility, so here it is.

In 18 minutes, you can:

• Write down measurable goals for this month to tape above your monitor.

• Write out 2-10 content ideas, depending on your brain clarity that day.

• Create a mind map with the next steps sketched out.

• Create a short video from your long-form content.

• Research and order the next book you will read.

• Finish a journaling session for clarity.

• Write 200-300 words of a rough draft.

• Practice a song section.

• Edit a photo.

It's something, right?

More important than what you will accomplish during this time is the seed you plant in your head. You plant ideas by taking action. That seed can unexpectedly sprout next time you walk down the grocery store.

The compound effect

18 minutes daily for a year is 109 hours of focused work. Nearly three full work weeks. Try getting that from sporadic weekend binges.

If you struggle with motivation burst then doing nothing cycles, try it.

I see it like that:

Feel free to save and share it. Print it and put on a wall if you need extra motivation.

All of those graphics are available in the library for premium subscribers.

Start today

The primary goal of this newsletter is not for you to just read it on a coffee break, but to shift your identity in the long term. And that comes from taking action.

So, now: pick your 18 minutes.

1. Open your phone and set the timer for that exact time.

2. Best to start right after you finish reading, but if you got no time, be sincere there, schedule it. Don’t plan in advance—just a seed, even one word in the calendar event. 8-8:15 PM | writing | 18 minutes.

3. Sit your ass in the chair until the timer rings, even if your mind feels like void.

Don't wait for Monday. Don't wait for the perfect setup. Don't wait for inspiration.

18 minutes. That's it. Your future creative self will thank you for not waiting for the perfect moment that never comes.

The best time to start was yesterday. The second best time is now.

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This is the fifth post from the new schedule (Week 5), next up:

Wealth isn’t earned by the hour—it’s built through habits, systems, and leverage. Run The Money shows you how to escape the grind, beat inflation, and build lasting freedom one smart habit at a time.

Co-founder of AngelList, he's invested in over 200 companies, including Twitter, Uber, and Postmates.

But his real influence comes from his ability to distill complex ideas about wealth, happiness, and success into actionable insights.

I picked this book for the first of the refreshed issues of Wisdom Hit because, despite how different our lives are, I relate to his philosophy.

I don’t think there’s a person who has figured out everything in life, but Naval seems like he’s close.

The book isn’t written by Naval himself. It’s a compilation of his best thoughts from podcasts, interviews, and tweets (where he’s active and profound), put together by Eric Jorgenson with a foreword by Tim Ferriss.

It’s kinda like Poor Richard's Almanack, but for the digital age.

Today, I'm sharing 5 most important lessons that can reshape how you think about building wealth and living well.

This post has the formula of: My outlook → quotes → action step.

1. Seek wealth, not money or status

Isn’t it the same? Not really.

Money is how we transfer time and wealth.

Status is your position in the social hierarchy.

Wealth is assets that earn for you while you sleep.

Owning shares, intellectual property, systems that generate value without your constant input. Glorified but hard to reach passive income.

You are not going to get rich renting out your time.

You must own equity—a piece of the business—to gain your financial freedom.

This may seem trivial to us, but a lot of people, including your friends and family, don't realize it or choose to ignore it.

If you work a standard 9-5, you will eventually hit the time-money ceiling. And that ceiling is nowhere close to being rich.

By being rich, I mean having so many or so valuable assets that you don’t have to do what you don’t want to do.

Not being forced to look for a job, tolerate idiot bosses and managers, and annoying coworkers. Being able to go on an all-day hiking trip mid-week just because you feel like it.

It’s not really about hard work. You can work in a restaurant eighty hours a week, and you’re not going to get rich. Getting rich is about knowing what to do, who to do it with, and when to do it. It is much more about understanding than purely hard work. Yes, hard work matters, and you can’t skimp on it. But it has to be directed in the right way.

If you don’t know yet what you should work on, the most important thing is to figure it out. You should not grind at a lot of hard work until you figure out what you should be working on.

I came up with the principles in my tweetstorm for myself when I was really young, around thirteen or fourteen. I’ve been carrying them in my head for thirty years, and I’ve been living them. Over time (sadly or fortunately), the thing I got really good at was looking at businesses and figuring out the point of maximum leverage to actually create wealth and capture some of that created wealth.

Chasing the next salary bump is not the way to wealth in the digital age, in today’s economy.

What can you build or own that will work for you?

Maybe it's building digital products. Maybe it's starting a YouTube channel. Maybe it's investing in index funds that grow while you focus on other things.

When you solve problems for others at scale, everyone wins. You get wealthy, and society gets value.

Obviously, value can be faked, and scamming people is one of the few get-rich-quick ways that work, but we are good guys here.

Action step: Identify one thing you could build or own in the next six months that might generate passive income.

Don't go to YouTube, where talking heads who spend 10 minutes on a Reddit thread promise you $2000 a day. Don't look for shortcuts—it's not a fast process. Think in years more than months.

And yes, it’s way easier if you have some budget to start with.

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2. Leverage is everything

If you consume self-improvement content, you have heard this before. New influential people in space, like Dan Koe, are highly influenced by Naval.

Understanding leverage is crucial for understanding wealth creation in the modern economy.

Few types of leverage:

• Labor leverage: Hiring people to work for you. This is old-school leverage. Comes with management headaches and high costs.

• Capital leverage: Using other people's money. Powerful, but you need access to capital first.

• Code leverage: Software and automation. Write code once, run it infinitely with near-zero marginal cost.

• Media leverage: Content, personal brand, audience, email lists. Create once, distribute to millions. A single podcast episode, YouTube video, or newsletter can reach more people than a medieval king could address in their lifetime.

The last two are what Naval calls "permissionless leverage." You don't need anyone's permission to automate or start creating content.

These forms of leverage are democratized and available to anyone willing to learn.

Products with no marginal cost of replication.

This includes books, media, movies, and code. I would add digital products and royalties in general.

Previous generations needed significant capital or large teams to scale their impact. Today, a single person with a laptop can build an audience and products around their interests or create content pieces that influence global conversations.

We live in an age of infinite leverage, and the economic rewards for genuine intellectual curiosity have never been higher. Following your genuine intellectual curiosity is a better foundation for a career than following whatever is making money right now.

Think about MrBeast's YouTube empire or indie developers building SaaS products. They built machines that scale without proportional increases in effort.

Or newsletter authors—I hit the same publish button whether 100 or 100,000 people will read it.

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About 3 weeks ago, I got a parking ticket

I was only gone for 5 minutes, which made it even more infuriating.

Like any rational person, I paid it immediately, learned my lesson, and moved on with my life.

Except that's not what happened at all.

Throwing money away is not a pleasant thing, so I kept putting off paying it.

The ticket sat on my desk for weeks. Every time I walked past it, I felt a tiny stab of irritation.

Not just about the fine itself, but about my own procrastination. The task takes literally less than 5 minutes online, yet somehow those 5 minutes felt like 5 minutes too much to be cut out of the present.

Well, that was f*cking stupid. When I finally sat down to pay it, the whole process took less than 2 minutes.

But here's what I realized: that parking ticket had done more than cost me money. It had opened a door in my mind.

Getting the ticket opened a door.

Putting off a phone call opens a door.

Leaving a half-watched video in your browser tab opens a door.

Not giving back borrowed money, even when you have the cash, opens a door.

The more doors opened, the more mental clutter.

The more doors opened, the more your focus gets scattered by the wind blowing through.

To focus properly, close the doors.

Small doesn’t mean unimportant

Little easy to do things that lead to success are also easy not to do.

If something takes 5 minutes, I can as well do it later. I will always have 5 minutes. Right?

You will, and that’s the problem. If something is painful and nagging, you will take not only 5, but 60 and 180 minutes to fix it as soon as possible.

But when a task is neither urgent nor demanding, it gets pushed to tomorrow. Then next week. Then next month. It sits at the back of your head all this time, using up mental energy you don’t even realize you are spending.

That's how doors stay open—not because you can't close them, but because you always could.

Why we leave small things for later?

Before “How?”, let’s get “Why?” out of the way.

There are several reasons why you left the doors open:

• They feel optional: Big deadlines have consequences—you get fired, fail the class, disappoint someone important. Small tasks rarely have immediate stakes. The parking ticket won't turn into an arrest warrant tomorrow, so my brain treated it as "whenever I get around to it."

• Decision fatigue: Your brain has limited mental energy for making choices. It's easier to defer than decide.

• Planning fallacy: You consistently underestimate how long things take and overestimate the motivation of the future you.

• No external accountability: Nobody's checking if you paid that bill, made that call, cleaned that drawer. Without social pressure or deadlines, tasks get tempting to defer.

• Paradox of ease: Because small tasks are simple, you assume you can always do them later. This is how anytime becomes never.

• Emotional avoidance: That phone call may lead to an awkward conversation. Organizing papers means confronting how behind you are. You are not avoiding the task—you are avoiding how the task makes you feel. This is the most common cause!

Set hard rules

Stick to solid rules to eliminate mental fatigue of decision.

Here are a few I came up with. Go ahead and modify the list if you need.

1. If a task takes less than 3 minutes, I will do it immediately. No question, no second thought.

2. I can’t have more than 2 doors open at a time. If it gets past 2, I have to close at least one immediately.

3. If I think about the same open doors 3 times, it gets done that day. Three mental pings means it's taking up too much headspace.

4. If I catch myself saying “I'll do it later”, I set a specific time.

5. No task gets to sit in my physical space for more than 48 hours. Bills, forms, things to return—they get dealt with or filed properly, not left as visual reminders of my procrastination.

Small tasks deserve the same respect as big ones. Peace of mind is worth 3 minutes of feeling bad.

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Close the doors

That $40 parking ticket cost me more than money. It cost me three weeks of mental energy.

Look around. How many doors do you have open?

That email you need to send, the subscription you need to cancel, the book you need to return.

Each one is quietly taking your mental RAM.

You can close them all in less time than it takes to watch a TV episode. Your future self—the one who can actually focus—will thank you.

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This is the third post from the new schedule (Week 3), next up: