You want to be successful at everything you do, right?
I don’t blame you. It’s a natural part of being ambitious.
I hate to break it to you, but that’s just not how the world works. You can’t be the best at a million different things.
The reason is that humans are mortal. Our time on this planet is finite and that means we have to prioritise.
For the ultra-ambitious among us. That’s a tough pill to swallow.
And forget about being successful.
For most of us, just to progress, your focus cannot be divided between lots of different things.
There is a concept called essentialism which Greg Mckeown talks about in his successful book titled ‘Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less.’
Too many people get it wrong; they try to pursue 5 or 10 goals simultaneously and wonder why they are getting nowhere.
They want to:
- Lose weight
- Eat healthier
- Build A side hustle
- Get a promotion at work
- Get married
- Improve their relationship with their parents
- Learn how to invest
- Build muscle
- Learn a new language
And on… and on… and on.
It looks like an honorable list. Everything on there is constructive. But there is just too much stuff to do.
When you have a list this long and scattered, you run into the problem of ‘not having enough hours in the day’. And most people just dismiss it, saying they have too much ambition, or they aren’t productive enough.
But when the year comes to a close, they look back and see that they have made negligible progress in all of their goals.
And it’s no wonder why.
Because the only way to make substantial progress is to choose just 2 or 3 things and work on them with your full focus.
The less, the better.
The fewer goals you have, the more time you can invest into that one goal.
Think about all the famous people you know.
Mike Tyson was a world-class boxer, but could he bench 500lbs? I bet he couldn’t.
Arnie was one of the best bodybuilders to ever live, but could he run a sub-3-hour marathon? Not without losing the Olympia.
Albert Einstein was one of the smartest physicists to ever walk the earth, but could he write the same way as Shakespeare? Hell no!
You can’t have everything.
In fact, most of the wildly successful people you know, are only truly good at one thing.
But that’s all it takes. Because being the best at one thing will get you further than being competent at 10 things ever will.
And that’s what successful people realize early. You have to prioritize the things that truly matter in your life, over the stuff that would just be ‘nice’.
You can do this by writing down the top 20 goals you want to achieve over the next decade.
Then begin to cross out the goals that would be nice to achieve, but aren’t essential in your life.
Eventually, you will have eliminated everything but the 2 or 3 things that will build you into the person you want to be.
Once you get down to the last 5 or so things, it will start to become difficult. At this point, figuring out what to cut out can become gut-wrenching because everything seems so important.
But when you stretch your vision out over the next 10, 20, or 30 years, you will realize what has to stay.
I recommend having one physical pursuit and one financial pursuit.
For example, at the moment, the 3 things I prioritize above all else are:
- Boxing (Physical)
- Publishing articles (Financial)
- School (Educational)
For me to see results in these areas of my life, I have to forego other things because there are only so many hours in the day.
I have to sacrifice things such as my social life, connections with people in my family, and building muscle.
Those are all important things, and I’m not saying that they won’t ever get done. But right now, they aren’t the priority.
That can seem harsh when talking about a relationship with your parents, but these are the difficult decisions you have to make if you want to take control of your life.
If you aren’t seeing progress even though you are working hard, you are probably spreading your effort too thin.
If you just narrow your focus and channel your energy, I guarantee your results will compound.
