Right now there’s a fire probably lit under your ass because it’s the first day of the new year. And that fire might keep burning for a week or two, but eventually it goes out, and everything goes back to normal. To kick ass and conquer the world, it’s important to remember that it’s the little things we do repeatedly that lead to our biggest changes.
1. Make People Around You Better Off
What this looks like is different for all of us. Maybe it’s something as simple as holding the door open for an old person. It could be as complicated as building a company to solve a problem that impacts a billion people within a decade. As Zig Ziglar once said “you get everything you want if you can just help enough other people get what they want.”
2. Read Books About the People You Want to be Like
Take notes. Then implement what works for you. That’s part of the reason, I created The Billionaire Reading List. I’m hoping to learn about their habits, mindsets, and life paths.
3. Choose the People You Surround Yourself with Wisely
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the most significant accomplishments of my life have been the result of surrounding myself with ambitious and optimistic people like my business partner Brian Koehn. If you become the average of the five people you spend the most time around, raise the average.
4. Realize that Time is Your Most Precious Asset
It’s the only resource in your life that is non-renewable. Place a really high dollar value on it. Then ask yourself “would I be doing what I”m doing right now if my time was worth x dollars an hour?” If the answer is yes, carry on. If the answer is no, change what you’re doing.
5. Move fast. Ship
Rinse, wash repeat. The more you ship, the better you’ll get at shipping. Make it a habit.
6. Make and Build Things with Your Hands
Not only is this therapeutic, it can help with your creativity. Building things from the Lego Architecture series has done wonders for both my productivity and creativity.
7. Have a Daily Practice
It doesn’t really matter what the practice is. When you do something daily, you’ll experience the power of visible and incremental progress.
8. Run Your Own Race
Compare less and create more. These are two things that have served me well. As Phil Sims always says in the Xbox One Game Madden when I’m losing, “Don’t look down the field for that big play. Just keep on marching.”
9.Practice Gratitude
There’s been plenty of scientific evidence that this will make you a much happier person. It’s a simple life hack with a tremendous ROI.
None of these ideas are particularly complicated or mind blowing. You’ve probably heard many of them before. If they’re done consistently over the course of a year, they can lead to big changes.