Do less and you'll succeed more

Read time: 3.5 minutes

Welcome to Wisdom Weekly:

Get proven strategies to become permanently more happy, healthy, and productive... in around 10 minutes a week.

Today's Wisdom:

• Big idea: It's not about doing more; it’s about doing what matters most.
• Short lesson: Have you heard of the 80/20 rule?
• Deep quote: Being busy is bullshit
• Quick takeaway: How to easily prioritize
• Top video: How I made $91k in a month at age 23

Big idea: It's not about doing more; it’s about doing what matters most.

Happy February!

I hear this a lot: “It feels like I’m not doing enough.”

Is that true?

Most of the time, no.

In fact, most of us never stop doing.

From the time we wake up, til we go to bed we are doing something.

The real question is: Are we doing what matters most?

Most of the time, no.

Short lesson: Have you heard of the 80/20 rule?

Short version: some guy a long time ago observed a pattern.

• 80% of food came from 20% of the crops.
• 80% of money was made by 20% of the people.

And so on.

How this applies to us:

80% of our results come from 20% of the things we do.

20%.

Everything else isn’t necessary.

It’s fluff.

Winning isn’t about doing everything right, but about doing the right things.

The majority of results we want, come from the minority of what we do.

Here is a quote from one of my teachers to drive this home:

It’s not that you aren’t doing enough.

It’s that you are doing too much, of the wrong things.

Remember this: addition by subtraction.

Do less. Get more.

Remove some things, to gain everything else.

Focus on identifying and prioritizing your highest-impact tasks.

Everything else can wait.

Deep quote: Being busy is bullshit

“ It is not enough to be busy; so are the ants. The question is: what are we busy about? — Henry David Thoreau

Quick takeaway: How to easily prioritize

Two ways I prioritize.

In the moment: Focusing question.

I learned this from the book The One Thing.

"What's the one thing I can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?"

This question is gold. It cuts through the fluff, and aligns our actions with the highest impact.

I used this as a model for the G.S.D. List in my G.S.D. System.

"If I could only get 3 Tasks done tomorrow, what are the 3 things I need to do to be on track for my Weekly Milestones and to have a successful Day?"

In advance: Eisenhower Matrix

I would use this if I had a long to do list:

It makes it very easy to know what to do, and when to do it.

Hope this helps!

​

How I made $91k in a month at age 23

My learnings from earning $91k in a single month a few years back, and the advice I would give for anyone looking to earn a lot of money.

In case you missed it: In Wednesday's letter, I gave away my favorite vision board template.

You can read it here.