[eff around] tiny windows are all you need

This morning, I wasn’t feeling well. I felt exhausted. Unable to focus on both my deep and tactical work. And I had a client meeting in the afternoon, where I’d be be driving them around for five hours. I loaded myself with Emergen-C and an immunity shot from Trader Joe’s, and took a five-minute power nap. I snoozed my alarm once, and woke up after fifteen minutes - feeling brand new. Because I lost some time from the nap, I only had an hour to do work before leaving to that five-hour meeting. I cut out all distractions, and focused only on tasks that were necessary. I ended up getting 80% of my work done. Whoa. By this time, it was 1030a - and my meeting started at 1130a. If I went to the gym, I would’ve only had seven minutes to exercise (if I didn’t change out of my work clothes). Being tired and starved for time, I normally would’ve skipped the gym. But something came over me and I took those seven minutes. I maxed out on bicep curls and chest presses. And I was rewarded with dopamine. Today reminded me of some key lessons for success: If you take care of the minutes, the hours, days, weeks, months, years, and decades take care of themselves. A bunch of small wins, when stacked, build momentum for big, sustainable wins. I learned from Seth Godin that torrents are made of small drips . Create tight deadlines for your work. It’s amazing what creativity and productivity happen in constraints. When you’re tired, it’s your body telling you to nap, take a walk, and overall pull yourself out of whatever you’re doing. Even if for a minute. No one ever regretted working out. Even if for seven minutes. So, the next time you’re given only a few minutes…harness it. Thanks for reading Eff Around & Find Out! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.