Everyone has the same amount of time in the 24-hour day.
But successful people (success here is defined as living the life you want) distribute it differently.
A very useful question I often use with clients,
How would you need to invest your time this week to move closer to your desired future state?
At the end of the day, nothing is ever guaranteed - a specific number on the scale, number of clients, amount of healthy days you’ll have, or how the market will uptake your idea/product - none of that is in your direct control.
But taking more action leading to this outcome dramatically increases the chance that you move closer.
What's not in your control:
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You can’t control the exact number on the scale by January.
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You can’t control how many clients sign up this month.
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You can’t control whether the market loves your idea.
What is in your control?
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Whether you stay inside your calorie budget today.
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Whether you exercise three times this week.
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Whether you run that pilot, listen to the customer, and adjust often.
Take those actions and your chances of success multiply. Ignore them, and you’ll be hoping for luck.
Our human tendency is to focus on the extremes - Did I fail? Did I succeed?
A much more useful model for living the life on your terms leans into “better” and “What step today can get me closer?”
PS "Tiny Experiments" model and PACTs instead of SMART goals are all about putting more ideas like this into practice. Ex-Google and now neuroscience researcher, Anne-Laure Le Cunff, talks about that on my Change Wired podcast.