Welcome to reThinkable - my weekly newsletter where I share actionable insights to build a wealthier and healthier life.

The number of unread messages on my phone is now at 73 (and growing). I have no idea how it got so bad… What’s worse is I only just realized this is a problem after a friend called me out on this.

So I’m asking my fellow reThinkers for advice… Y’all got any tips for this?

Here’s what we’re covering today:

1. ❓ Someone asked me this recently

2.  🔂 Why you need to do one thing many times

3.  🏁 The most important takeaway

Estimated read time: 4 minutes and 37 seconds

❓ Someone asked me this recently

I recently met someone who has been wanting to become an entrepreneur for the longest time.

He told me he dabbled in dropshipping, flipping couches, selling white labelled products, and more. He then asked, “...so why haven’t any of my side hustles taken off yet?”

I responded with the below (but in a much less smart-sounding way):

Every day you work on a project, you lay down a layer of bricks. On the 1st day, you lay the foundation. On the 2nd day, you add the next layer. On the 3rd, the next and so on and so forth.

The problem is you’re laying bricks for too many different houses. You build the foundation for 1st house, move somewhere else, then build the foundation for a 2nd house, a 3rd, and 4th.

Instead of starting 5 different projects in a month, focus on 1 project for a year.

🔂 Why you need to do one thing many times

Unfortunately, I didn’t explain why this was so important so I thought it would be helpful to explain it here (hopefully he’s subscribed to this newsletter 😛).

1. Simplicity is key:

   

This is essentially what happens when you do too many things at once. You spread your energy out across everything and achieve very little progress with anything.

Instead, if you just focus on 1 thing for a long time, this happens:

You achieve a lot more and go a lot farther.

But focusing on one thing is only half the battle. The other part is creativity.

2. Constraints enhance creativity:

If I give you a blank piece of paper and ask you to draw anything for me. Chances are, you’ll get overwhelmed by the millions of things you can draw and spend quite a bit of time thinking about it first.

But if instead, I asked you to draw a picture of a rose, it becomes infinitely easier for you to start drawing.

Research shows that constraints and creativity are the perfect match. Creating constraints helps you focus on executing instead of being stuck in analysis paralysis.

3. Quantity leads to quality:

Most people have heard the saying “quality over quantity” but after reading Art & Fear by Ted Orland, I’d argue you can’t have quality without quantity.

Here’s the perfect example:

A university professor divided his film photography students into two groups for a project: a “quantity” group and a “quality” group.

Students in the “quantity” group were asked to take 500 photos and their project grade would be based on how many photos they took. Students in the “quality” group were asked to take just 1 photo and their project grade would be based on how good that single photo was.

The results: Students in the “quantity” group had significantly better and higher quality pictures than the “quality” group.

That’s because the “quantity group” had the freedom to experiment with different compositions, styles, lighting and more without worrying about taking the “perfect” shot.

Even if the students in the “quantity group” only improved by a mere 1% each time they took a photo. After 365 photos, they would end up 37 times better than at the start of their project.

And this applies for even the smartest people in the world too. That’s why Nobel Prize winners publish about twice as much work as their colleagues (i.e. people who didn’t win Nobel Prizes).

🏁 The most important takeaway

But the single most important thing you should take away is to just start and show up everyday.

• If you’re a writer, only by writing will you discover your perfect style

• If you’re an entrepreneur, only by building will you find what’s right for you

And the easiest way to start is to pick one thing and do it every. single. day.

No more blank pages.

No more thinking as a form of procrastination.

No more excuses.

Just show up and do it for a long time.

P.S. If you ever wanted to start an educational YouTube channel and turn it into an income-generating machine, now’s your chance. I'm looking to help 20 driven people build a life-changing educational YouTube business. Reply to this email with “YouTube” to learn more.

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