Stop What You’re Doing and Do THIS Right Now
The Amplified Impact Podcast
May 1st, 2023
In this episode, I’m going to share with you an important daily reminder that’s been on my mind lately. It’s something I struggle with every day in my pursuit of doing more and more.
It’s so easy to fill our to-do list with meaningless tasks that make us feel good when we check them off…but don’t really move us towards our goals.
But being busy isn’t the same as being effective…I learned that I need to pursue less but better, to be intentional about identifying key projects or levers that will pay the biggest dividends.
Today, I want you to look at your to-do list and ask yourself…what is the most important thing. Is it getting the time and attention it deserves? Are you allocating enough time and resources to it?
It’s easy to get lost in the busy work and forget what really matters. So take a moment to identify the most important thing on your list and make sure it gets the attention it deserves.
Remember, success isn’t about how much you get done, it’s about what you get done.
TWEETABLE QUOTE:
“Discipline is not about punishing yourself for doing things wrong. Discipline is about celebrating yourself for doing things right.” – Anthony Vicino
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Episode Transcript:
Anthony Vicino [00:00:34]:
Hey, what’s up, all you beautiful people? Welcome back to the podcast. This is going to be a short, quick hitting episode, a very important daily reminder. This is more for me than it is for you. It’s something that I struggle with daily in my pursuit of doing more and more and more. It’s very easy to just fill up our to do list with bullshit items, bullshit tasks, things that make us feel good because they’re easy to check off the list, but in reality, they’re not really moving us towards our goals. I did a video, I just recorded it yesterday. It’s going to be going live on YouTube here in the next week or so. By the time you’re watching this episode of the podcast, it’s probably already available. So I’d go over to YouTube, the channel is just Anthony Vasino and give that a watch. It’s called Six Lessons from Essentialism. That changed my life. One of those lessons, it’s the first lesson, actually, I think. I think it’s just really important to keep at the top of our minds.
Anthony Vicino [00:01:28]:
It’s this success isn’t about how much you get done, it’s about what you get done. I’ll repeat that success isn’t about how much you get done, it’s about what you get done. And we fall into this trap. I am super guilty of this again, of trying to do a lot, trying to do more than is feasible, or trying to substitute the idea of quantity for quality or quantity for being actually effective. And what ends up happening is you just end up being busy rather than being effective because you’re creating this massive to do list with a million things on it that don’t actually move the needle. And one of the things that really helped me in my life start making meaningful progress towards my goals was this disciplined pursuit of less but better. So being very intentional about identifying what are those key levers, those key movers and shakers in my life or the projects that I have that are really going to pay the biggest dividends. Like if I pull that lever, it’s going to move me the furthest. Because at my core, I’m very lazy. I don’t like to work harder than is necessary.
I don’t have superhuman discipline, though. I talk about a discipline a lot. I talk about the concept, a lot of these things that I talk about, it’s more about teaching myself and relearning lessons because every day is a struggle with discipline or focus or whatever. And so, just so you guys know, a lot of the content I create is more for me than it is for you. The act of teaching, it is way more valuable to me probably, than for you to listen. And I hope through these ramblings you also get some value out of it. But just want to be very clear about this value proposition. I’m the winner here. I’m getting way more out of this. So I’m learning way more, at least. But to make this tactical for you today and to think about, okay, success isn’t about how much you get done, it’s about what you get done. I want you to look at your to do list right now, what you’ve laid out for your day, what’s on your time blocked calendar or whatever, and identify what is the most important thing.
Anthony Vicino [00:03:30]:
What is the priority.
Anthony Vicino [00:03:31]:
The word priority is an interesting word at its core. It means the most important thing, right? And we’ve kind of bastardized it to say priorities, which means the most important things. But there can be only one most important thing, right? Like, they might be very close first and second place, but there is a most important thing. So just look at your list, your to do list, your time block calendar, and identify what is that thing that is the most important. Then ask yourself, are you allocating enough time and energy to that thing today? That’s not to say you allocate all your time and energy to it because there is only so much that you can do. You can only move needles so much in a day, right? But ask yourself, am I allocating as much time and energy and resources to this task as it deserves, given how important it is?
And quite often you’re going to realize, oh, that important thing is on here. But I’ve only designated like a half an hour, an hour to this, when in reality, it probably needs a full 3 hours. Well, if that’s the case, audit your list of to dos and say what needs to go? What are the unimportant things that I’ve just put on this list to make myself feel better? Or that are important in the sense that they keep your life moving forward. But whether or not you do them today or you do them next week, it doesn’t really matter. And the thing I think about a lot is videos like this podcast or a YouTube video or just writing the newsletter. These are things that you guys get a lot of value from. That’s what you come, that’s why you presumably follow me, is for that content. And so that’s the really important stuff that I need to prioritize in my schedule. But it’s very easy for me to get pulled into the trap of responding to comments and emails because it’s very important to me that you guys all feel seen and valued. I make a big effort to respond to everybody, but I get thousands of messages over the course of a week. And if I respond to all those messages at the expense of actually sitting down and creating these videos or writing the newsletter, then I’ve put the cart before the horse and I’m no longer doing the thing that actually brings you value, right? I’m doing the easier thing because it’s less mentally taxing.
Doing these videos is very difficult. It’s very time consuming, very energy consumptive. And usually if given the choice, I would probably default to just responding to comments because they’re easy, they’re time consuming, but they’re way easier. Right? And this is the dichotomy between deep work and shallow work that Cal Newport talks about in his book, which is aptly titled Deep Work. And deep work is that stuff that’s moving you towards your goals, whereas the shallow work is the stuff that you tick off the to do list. That isn’t super important, but it does fill up the day if you let it. So use this opportunity to audit your list because a lot of times we just go through life going through the motions and not applying full intentionality. It’s nothing against you. That’s the way our brain works. It just kind of goes into routine mode, it goes into habits, and it just looks for the path of least resistance. The key then to achieving outsized results in your life is to apply more intentionality to the things that you’re doing, to be more present for the things that you’re doing. Which is why my favorite question to ask is what’s my outcome? I’ve done a podcast on that and it’s most important question if you guys, I would strongly encourage you to go listen to that. But really what it’s doing? Is it’s asking of the thing that I’m doing right now, of the things that are consuming my time and my energy and my resources?
If I continue on this path, what is my outcome? If I just keep answering all my emails and my messages to you guys, then I’m going to have a lot of people who are really psyched to have those messages, but they’re not necessarily going to have any future videos or articles or books or anything to read or consume or to help them grow, right? So which one is more valuable? And when you ask that question, what’s my outcome? If I keep doing this thing, what’s the logical extension? What am I going to get as a result? Often we realize, oh, I’m doing something right now that’s not actually going to help me achieve my long term goals. So take this opportunity to reflect and audit with intentionality on your to do list today? What is the most important thing that needs your time and attention? What are the things that have just kind of found themselves on the list that need to go make the hard choices that need to be made? And then, good luck on your quest of winning the day, guys. I believe in you, so I appreciate you being here. As always, I’ll see you back here bright and early tomorrow, or late and dark, whatever time you tend to listen to these podcasts. But until then, stay hyper focused, my friend.
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