Okay here’s the sad truth that’s gonna piss you off a little bit:
Today, if you’re lucky, you will do something that is a complete waste of time.
A complete and utter waste of time.
For the rest of you (or us), unfortunately, today we will do multiple things that are a complete waste of time.
Yes, I said multiple things.
Today we will be lazy with our effort and be “busy” all day while accomplishing little to nothing, then go home, be rude to our spouse, be too tired and not have enough “time” to exercise or cook dinner, but hey, there’s always time for the new Game of Thrones episode so let’s get it going.
What the heck?
Where is this coming from?
What did I do to you?
I thought we were friends, man!
I am one of your 10 readers on this blog and you’re speaking to me like this?!
Okay, take a deep breath, we are still friends, and it’s because we are friends that I am writing this.
That, and it takes one to know one. Which brings me humbly to writing down this DIM.
(DIM stands for “Do It Myself”)
Are you familiar with the snowball effect? If you’re not, you should be.
The snowball effect is simply this:
A process or behavior that starts small and builds upon itself, becoming larger and also perhaps potentially more dangerous or disastrous, though it might be beneficial instead.
Virtuous Cycle – Good snowball effect (e.x. workout every day and reach your goal weight)
Vicious Cycle – Bad snowball effect (e.x. eat TV Dinners every night and die an early death)
If you are more of a visual learner, imagine this:
You might think that every day you wake up, get dressed, eat breakfast, commute to work, work for 4 hours, eat lunch, work for another 4 hours, go home, exercise, eat dinner, watch Netflix, go to sleep.
Then repeat until you die.
BUT!
I’d argue we are actually doing something that looks more like this:
Every day, we wake up, walk outside into our backyard and start pushing around our different snowballs.
Our snowballs are the things we do each and every day. Behaviors, habits, anything we spend our time on.
It works like this:
For every new behavior, we make a snowball. (Yep, one of those cute little guys that your big brother throws at your head growing up.)
For every behavior that you do regularly, that snowball already exists so you just find it and start pushing it around.
For example, if today you decide to take up kickboxing, that’s a new snowball that you make.
If you go to kickboxing again tomorrow, you don’t make a new snowball, you just find that kickboxing snowball and start pushing it around.
Time spent on something = time spent pushing around the snowball
So you might think you’re quite civilized by putting on your Banana Republic chinos every morning and getting into your 2017 Toyota Prius and heading to work, but in actuality, you are just putting on your Santa themed onesie and heading outside to start pushing snowballs.
I know, it’s a humbling pill to swallow, but at least now you know.
Occasionally, you make a new snowball from scratch (i.e. new behavior), but most of the time, you’re running from one snowball to the next pushing them around and consistently making them bigger.
You probably have a work snowball.
A church snowball.
An Instagram snowball.
A cooking snowball.
A reading snowball.
A Netflix snowball.
An exercise snowball.
And a family snowball.
Sounds fun right?
#PicturePainted
What’s your point, dude?
First of all, chill on calling me a dude.
Yes, I am a man and technically that is acceptable verbiage depending on the combination of your age, my age, and our respective relationship.
But that’s beside the point.
The point is, if media has taught us anything, it’s that the only way to make it to the top is to become an overnight success.
Therefore, you should maximize the number of all-nighters you are willing to pull and if you can’t build Southwest Airlines overnight, then go ahead and scrap the project and start over with a new idea the next night.
Right?
Yes, everyone on the cover of Entrepreneur magazine was an overnight success.
Don’t be stupid, Seth.
You’ll have to forgive me.
I’m a state school grad with a 3.45 GPA.
Not exactly the brightest bulb in the radish patch.
If you are still nodding in agreement, then this article isn’t for you.
Actually, this site isn’t for you so go ahead and hit the “X” on your browser header.
…Yes, I am 100% serious.
You won’t like any of this stuff so bail.
Bail now and let this reading-this-site-snowball that you made today melt and go away forever.
If you think I’m an idiot, then you might get something out of this little thing we call a “post” so hang with me.
You’ve made it this far.
For 99.9999999% of people out there, you won’t become an overnight success which means it’s not about the brute force effort of kicking the door to your dreams in, but rather starting to work on picking that lock.
And for some, it’s less of a door with a deadbolt lock and more of a bank vault with 24/7 security.
Oh and you are blind, deaf, and have no limbs.
So we’ve come to grips with the fact that we can’t kick in the door to our dreams like those firefighters we have on our kitchen calendars.
You know who you are people.
We are watching you.
So we can’t kick in the door to our dreams which means we are going to have to do this the old-fashioned way – one day at a time.
One lock at a time.
One number at a time.
One bobby pin at a time.
By the way who the hell is bobby and how did he get a pin that literally every woman in the world uses named after him?
Talk about a conversation starter.
The Challenge
Today, if you’re lucky, you will do something that is a complete waste of time.
Today, if you’re me, you will do multiple things that are a complete waste of time.
My challenge to you is to pick one thing this month that you know is a time-wasting snowball and eliminate it from your daily routine.
Just one thing.
Some examples of what you could eliminate:
- Watching that 3rd episode of your favorite TV show
- Checking your email before going to sleep
- Checking your email when you wake up
- Checking Instagram every 20 minutes. Every 5 minutes you say? Woah.
- Having social media notifications turned on
- Putting your cat and its every move on your Instagram story
- Snapchatting every vaguely interesting thing in your life
- Living on social media
- Shopping on Amazon at work
This month, identify one thing you do every day that is a waste of time and eliminate it.
It’s really that simple.
Don’t pick two.
Don’t pick four.
One thing.
The sad truth is that far too much of our day is filled with meaningless muck that doesn’t improve our lives, increase our output, or make us happier.
It started out as a tiny little snowball that over time has become the size of a car that has more momentum than we could have ever imagined.
Stop pushing the snowball and let it melt.
Bonus Points
Once you let that snowball melt, you’re gonna have a lot more space in your backyard.
Heck, it might even freak you out because you’re used to having so many snowballs in your backyard.
You love being busy. I love being busy.
You love pushing those snowballs around. I love pushing those snowballs around.
The email snowball.
The Snapchat snowball.
The Jack Ryan snowball. Yep, it’s one of your best-looking snowballs, I know.
The YouTube snowball.
The Linkedin Article’s snowball.
But now you’re going to find yourself in a weird place where there’s tons of room for a new snowball in your backyard.
So it’s time to make a new snowball.
Just be mindful of what snowball you decide to make.
And don’t worry, you don’t have to spend 2 hours a day pushing around your new snowball to hurry to get it back to the size of a car.
That’s the beauty of the snowball effect.
Just a little time each day and after a while, you’ll have the compound effect working on your behalf and a little time spent with each snowball will have a massive impact.
The Takeaway
Yes, this post was meant to make you laugh.
But it’s also so legit and serious.
We think that 5 minutes on Instagram isn’t hurting us.
And the truth is, it’s not.
That first time you spend 5 minutes on Instagram doesn’t do anything.
Your backyard is huge and that’s a tiny snowball.
But 5 minutes, 25x a day (which is not an over exaggeration) turns that little snowball into a pretty freaking massive one after a couple of years.
Fear the power of vicious cycles but leverage the power of virtuous cycles.
We also tend to think that a 5-minute workout right before dinner won’t make a difference or be worth it.
And the truth is, it won’t and it’s not.
That first time you spend 5 minutes exercising before dinner doesn’t do anything.
But 5 minutes, will usually turn into 10 minutes, and doing that every day will turn into a pretty freaking massive snowball after a couple years.
Patience in the long term.
Urgency in the short term.
Do the little things.
Read for 5 minutes a night before bed.
Meditate for 5 minutes first thing in the morning.
Exercise every day for 10 minutes.
Everyone thinks you have to work out for an hour for it to be worth your time and do something for you.
I’m not a doctor, but I think we all know deep down that this just isn’t true.
It’s a story we tell ourselves so we can feel good about skipping the gym.
Day after day.
Week after week.
Month after month.
Year after year.
10 freaking minutes people.
Eat one plant-based meal a day.
Parting words.
People don’t have time.
People make time.
If you ever find yourself saying that you don’t have time for something:
- Slap yourself in the face (hard).
- Jump in the coldest body of water you can find.
- Go ask your best friend to slap you in the face again (hard).
- Then go pick up a Peter Drucker book on time management.