On the One Big Thing

If you plan to start on a new project in 2019 (and you should!), here’s my only advice: choose the *one big thing* that inspires you most.

For the first month, you’ll be excited and motivated because everything is new. In months two, three, four and beyond, the reality will sink in — it’s going to take a lot of dedication to bring your project to life.

That’s why you need to love the work. The passion will help you power through the adversity.

And on January 2, 2020, you can look back and take pride in what you created so far. Alas, the task is never done.

For you, make 2019 the year that “started it all.”

On Deferred Rewards

I watched a video last week in which a business coach talked about “deferred reward.” If you put in the effort month over month, you will have a positive outcome. That’s because you create momentum that keeps building in your favor.

To attain the “reward,” you need to push through the moments where the work seems impossible or too much to handle. More to the point, when you’re tired and would rather “do it tomorrow,” you dig in right then and there.

The “reward” is locked inside those split-second decisions.

Keep grinding and make it a week to remember!

On Ugly Work

Here’s the raw truth: meaningful work is ugly.

With any passion project, the mission is pure, straightforward and clean-cut.

How you achieve the mission? Well, that part is messy, tangled and complex.

But the big stuff isn’t supposed to be easy. The higher degree of difficulty = the greater the impact on others.

If you plan to follow your passion in 2018 (and I hope you do), then please understand:

• Every day will be a total grind. Every. Day.
• The process will almost never play out in a nice-and-neat, lickety-split kind of way.
• If you need to call a key contact 17 times until he answers, you’re doing it right.