Ok, now it sounds like a click bait. Probably it is. Maybe it's not. While these tips may be very simple they are actually not.

I came across @tarazkp post today about the future and were would we like to see ourselves in three years. I had similar, less structured thoughts, in a bit different perspective a few days ago myself in a post What do we need to be happy so decided to give it a shot.

It's an interesting notion. We all kind of know what we want in fact we are positive we do. Most common answer that pops out is mostly money. Then health. Some people answered that it is purpose that we need. Love of course was a popular answer too.

So yeah... we kinda do know what we want, the tricky part is to get there. And the reasons of us not getting there more often than not are quite simple. It lacks structure and a plan. It is very difficult to achieve goals without planning and just stumbling over it. Our brain works in simple but yet tricky ways at the same time.

Writing it all down my seem simple, even trivial task to do and that's were we fall in a first trap our brain creates. Since it seems so easy we disregard it and consider it waste of time. But believe me, it is not as simple as it may seem. If you do not believe it try it. I am positive that 99% of those who read these lines will not do it even though we have heard it all over and over again, from great people that achieved amazing things in their lives and became icons.

WRITE IT DOWN

Set yourself a visible goal. Keep it somewhere you'd see it every day.

Call it neurolinguistic programming or any other fancy name. But simply writing down your goal and seeing it every day goes a long way. The toughest part here will be to prioritize. We want it all and we want it now. I have to disappoint you, it does not work that way. We have to make choices. And the hardest thing about making a choice is that before you choose everything is possible. After you make a choice it's done. You can not unchoose it. And we tend to overthink and then it all gets messy. We start to doubt, to procrastinate and we do not make the choice postponing it for the future and then we do not take action. Status quo.

My goal is to create a media platform that connects content creators with buyers.

It may not sound that fancy, it does not have words like "crypto", "decentralized", "equality to all people on earth". Yet.
I was chasing that elusive bird for quite a few years, trying to tokenise it, to make it censorship free, to make it decentralized.

I have failed. But one thing i have learned is that it is too complicated for the absolute majority of people. Still. Yet. For now. So now i am working on a simple solution, that will be extremely easy to understand and will have very few and very simple rules. From simple rules complex objects are born. Like fractals. So i have a goal now.

BREAK IT DOWN

While your goals might be (and probably should be) big and ambitious they probably consist of smaller tasks.

Trying to chew it all in one piece might be a daunting task and you will choke. Make a list of smaller that you think you will need to achieve your goal. Write it all down. You'll find out that some of them are not necessary as you start crossing them out, new task will appear, write them down too. The main thing here is writing them all down. I might sound like a broken record by now but it's how it works. No one has found a better way to accomplish goals. Not yet at least. Simple things make it while complex break it.

I know that i need to start with a problem. Something i can work on to make life easier for people that have it easier and create value there. And it all starts with a demand. If there is no demand, most probably there is no problem. It might have been a mistake on my first iteration of the project i am working on. I got this nice and fancy idea, that i thought everybody will love and thing will pick up from there. And it did... in the beginning. Then solution became more complex than the problem itself and it did not stick.

So now my main tasks are:

To find out the the problem media companies have when looking for the content.
Identify right experienced people in the industry to talk to and ask them about these problems.
Try to get contact information of those people and identify people that can make introductions.
Write down all the problems and identify ones that keep repeating.
Break down most important problem into smallest possible parts.
Try to think of logical ways to solve it.
Try to think of technical ways to solve it.
WRITE IT DOWN
Talk to the network of investors i have developed about financing the solution.
Look for alternative ways of financing.
To find out the the problem content creators have when selling the content....

And the list goes on.

CROSS IT OUT

There will be dozens, hundreds or thousands of tasks depending on your goal.

Depending on the complexity of your goal use different tools for tracking. It might be a simple sticky note, or a list of tasks on a white board or fridge (just do not use permanent markers) or it might be a more complex tool like excell spreadsheet or some dedicated software like trello or any other of your choise.

The secret here is to have a written down list of tasks you can modify. There is certain magical feeling and satisfaction of crossing out tasks you have done, or tearing down that sticky note and throwing to a trash bin.

If you have never done this make a simple experiment. Write down "Make myself a cup of coffee or tea". Then make yourself a cup of coffee and tea. Then cross out this task while drinking you coffee or tea. You will notice a flood of dopamine right away a sense of satisfaction of accomplishment. And the best part the dose of dopamine little depends on the size of accomplishment. This way you will develop a habit of writing tasks down and that will change your life. That's it. It's basically all you need. CROSS IT OUT

LOOP IT AGAIN

There is no way you will always be right on the first attempt.

There is something strange about the desire to be always right. I am sure it has some purpose as it would not have developed in our evolution but it also can have negative consequences. The art of letting go is very subtle and i am not yet an expert. I am working on it though. Sometimes persistence pays off, sometimes it ruins completely. But the fact is things will not always play out the way you anticipated so you need to iterate.

Without keeping all your tasks written down, it would be extremely hard to do and visually see things that did work out and ones that did not. A grain of self criticism would help a lot here. If something did not work out and it is possible to identify why, write down the reasons and causality. Break it down to smaller parts and create new tasks. Write them down.

Myself In Three Years

I will be building on a solution for content creators to be able make a fair living of the content creation without sacrificing my personal life this time. I will have a dog, a loving (hopefully) wife and maybe kids (this one is kind of hard to plan, but i will write it down nevertheless). My parents will be well and we will be sitting on a lawn I've planted a few weeks ago drinking coffee and reading this post since no one can really remove it. The house renovation will be over by then and i will have even more time to blog on Hive.

And now... I'm out to fix myself a cup of coffee.

How to be Successful: Simple Tricks inspired by 3 questions: Future, Processes & Hurdles