GM. This is Harry. I’m going to break down learning concepts faster than you can break your New Year's resolution.

Let’s go.

Reward Yourself To Keep A Habit

When installing a new habit (as a few of us will be at this time of year), remember to reward yourself mentally and physically.

We're still animals. Our brains tell us to repeat actions that get rewarded.

Rewards can be anything:

• A piece of chocolate

• A pat on the back

• A pep talk to yourself in the bathroom mirror, David Goggins style

Commit Long Term

When you're making a commitment that you want to keep for months and years, commit to less than what you think you're capable of doing.

Why?

Because committing to less will make it easier to stay consistent.

Like:

• If you've never worked our consistently before, start by showing up at the gym for 10 minutes. Fuck the hour-long training sessions. Train yourself to show up first.

• If you've never written a book, start by writing a little every day rather than attempting to write the whole thing in a week.

• If you're building a business, start by making moves in the right direction every day. That's why we have business plans.

Long term vision > short term thinking

Mastery = Perfection

Small things matter when it comes to mastery. Perfection matters. Don’t listen to those that say it doesn’t.

Don’t give yourself an excuse to cut corners - that’s a great way to be mediocre.

The Reality of Mortality

Some people today will wake up, take a shower, put on their clothes, drink coffee, have breakfast - and then be killed in a motor vehicle collision on their way to work.

All for a job they don't care about.

Sorry to bring the energy down, but life is precious, you know? We don't know how much time we have left. We don't know what will happen tomorrow. We don't know what we will regret or miss.

So if you’re stuck in a job you hate, or aren’t sure where you want to go next, read this – it’ll help:

Wait But Why Blog - How to Pick a Career (That Actually Fits You)

Making Something Meaningful

Whether you’re starting a new business, a song, a book, a YouTube video, a painting, a blog, a website, or anything that needs your creative input - you have a big choice to make.

Option A: You can choose to chase your significance and create for one person - you. And do it for your own fulfillment.

Option B: You can choose to solve a problem that OTHER people face by asking:

"What question am I trying to answer?" and

"What problem am I trying to solve?"

The decision is yours, bro.

Just watch out for that voice in your head ‘I can make money from this’. It influences your decision more than you know.

But,

If your creative venture is meant to grow your wallet, create for other people. If it's meant for your fulfillment only, stop caring about other people.

Singing a cover of a Taylor Swift song will get you more traction than releasing an original piece with no audience.

The fallacy is expecting other people to love what you're making to satisfy your own needs. That's when you get hurt, demotivated and angry at the world.

It hurts your energy and your art.

If you're lucky, there might be an overlap. Maybe you're a blues musician but enjoy pop music, so you get satisfaction AND an audience from making pop.

Or maybe you're fascinated with a business idea that other people value.

Just remember - you can either keep thinking and brainstorming to find the 'perfect' middle ground, or you can make a decision NOW, get started, and let the journey take you where you need to go.

Actions > everything.

What’s good? 📖

Rad books, articles and podcasts that you’ll enjoy:

The 5AM Club - honestly mind-blowing. It's helping me reinforce my habit of waking up at - you guessed it - 5AM. Today, I completed my workout and wrote 1,000 words before 6.40am. The rest of the day is mine.  

Murtagh - fiction. I read this at night when my brain is fried and sleep is waiting for me to close my eyes.

Wait But Why Blog - How to Pick a Career (That Actually Fits You) - A blog tackling a topic we give very little thought to. If you're choosing a career or considering a change, read this. It’s fucking long, but there are little pictures to keep you going.

Changes I'm making:

Remember when I said that I’d email every day? Well…um, I lied.

It’s taking me away from family / friends too much, you know? I don’t want to make that sacrifice right now.

So from now, I'm only going to enter your online private garden when I have something valuable to share. I’m going to take more time to refine, re-write and edit so the messages stick. It also gives you more time to take action on the questions I send through.

Speaking of which, this is for you:

“What’s the ONE THING you need to get done this month? Is it in your calendar?”

If you made it all the way here…you’re a legend. Have an amazing week.

Hypothetically yours,

Harry

P.S. If you got something out of this - do me a HUGE favour: