Achievement Unlocked: Mild Progress
It’s already mid-February! Those New Year’s resolutions? Long gone. Now, you might say, it’s time to seriously tackle my 2025 goals. Unless, of course, one of those goals was to procrastinate. In that case, congrats! Same as me, you’re right on track.
Even though I’ve been traveling to snowboard, trying to eat healthy, and attempting to stay off social media, I still feel like I’m just spinning my wheels. The goals I set for the year? Still chilling on the sidelines.
So, I’ve been thinking: Before I ask myself how to get from A to B in the most effective way, I need to ask—what does the most effective way even look like?
How can I build a bulletproof system that keeps me sane while setting me up for the highest probability of success?
James Clear nailed it in Atomic Habits:
“We don’t rise to the level of our goals; we fall to the level of our systems.”
And right now? My system looks more like a glitchy Windows 98 than a streamlined MacBook Pro. Jokes aside, here are some tweaks I’ve made to be more productive - without being so rigid that my motivation jumps out the window.
1. Fail Faster!
I’m a serious guy I’d say. I like to get things done the right way, which means I overthink, procrastinate, and sit on my ass all day, worrying about making mistakes. Solid strategy, right?
Wrong.
I’ve realized that moving fast and failing faster is actually a good approach. It’s like being a scientist who experiments constantly. The quicker you figure out what doesn’t work, the faster you can pivot and improve.
Imagine two startups:
One spends two years perfecting a product, only to find out no one wants it.
The other releases quickly, gets feedback, tweaks it, and succeeds within a year.
The second one ‘failed faster’ but ultimately won.
So, my new strategy? Just keep producing. Write more shitty blog posts, take more boring photos, and act on more mediocre idea, because sometimes, a gem is hiding in the mess.
2. De-optimization
Chris Williamson recently said something on his podcast that really resonated with me: “Not everything in life needs to be optimized.”
Ambitious people, like you and me, I presume, tend to have plenty of self-discipline, but brainpower is a limited resource. Instead of trying to be perfect at everything, it’s smarter to let certain areas be a bit messy so you can focus on what truly matters.
For example, if my room looks like a tornado hit it, but I’m nailing my most important tasks. Who cares? I’d rather crush my top priorities than waste energy folding socks.
This mindset shift helps me stop overthinking, work more efficiently, and actually get things done.
3. Format Your Hard Drive
Life throws curveballs, and we don’t always understand why things go wrong. But here’s the tough truth: whether or not it’s our fault, how we handle setbacks is completely our responsibility.
Take my snowboarding season. It hasn’t gone well in terms of results, but I’ve realized that the biggest factor isn’t what happens, it’s how I react.
If I keep replaying failures in my head, I stay stuck. But if I reframe them, I move forward more quickly.
One of my favorite quotes by Napoleon Hill sums it up perfectly:
“No more effort is required to aim high in life, to demand abundance and prosperity, than is required to accept misery and poverty.”
So, instead of dwelling on failure, I’m hitting ‘reset’ on my mindset as quickly as possible. Time to reformat the hard drive and install a better operating system.
I won’t pretend I’ve got it all figured out, but at least I’ve debugged a few glitches. Progress isn’t about never slipping up, it’s about knowing when to hit refresh. So here’s to less overthinking, more action, and maybe, just maybe, the occasional guilt-free movie night. After all, even computers need to restart once in a while.