EntrepreneurshipProductivity | 4 Min Read
#36 - Peaks and Troughs
Every day won't be the same, some days we'll be more productive, others we won't be. This is okay! What matters is consistency and we keep showing up.
Hey Friends 👋
Earlier this week I came across this tweet from Sarah Arnold-Hall and it really struck a chord with me so I wanted to talk more about it for this week's edition.
If you've hung around entrepreneurs, startup builders, or highly aspirational people in general, it won't be the first time you've heard the advice "to be successful, you need to show up every day".
Now on the surface, it sounds like good advice; you can't achieve your potential if you're only working towards your goals one day per month, if you want to make those goals a reality, you need to put in effort every day. For me, however, I took this advice too literally and failed to see what Sarah's image beautifully distills.
I took this advice as I need to turn up and make sure I do 100% of the work every day with no troughs allowed. Now, if you can do that then hats off to you, well done, and here's a metaphorical pat on the back. But, the odds are if you can turn up and pressure yourself to be 100% productive and achieve all of your work every day without fail for a long period of time, then I can't pat you on the back because you're probably a computer.
So, for the non-computer and sentient readers, I just want to say that it's perfectly okay to do more work on some days and less on others. We are human, we have good days, bad days, and some days that are neither, it's simply not realistic to assume every day will be this picture of productivity perfection.
Ultimately, this is part of the harsh reality of working on a solo-project. That is to say, some days the last thing you'll want to do is work on it. After all, we all have days where our head isn't in the game, our body feels off, or things just aren't right.
And, this is the beauty that is captured in Sarah's image in my opinion. Even on those days we should still try and show up and do something, even if it's just one thing that equals 0.1% progress towards our goal. Because ultimately, the power in showing up daily; doesn't come from the work completed. Instead, it comes from the habits being built and the votes being cast for the person you wish to become.
To conclude, any progress is progress. If you're writing a book and only manage to write one sentence, that is still progress you hadn't made before. But, it was only possible by turning up that day to write it.
So, after seeing Sarah's image, I'm going to try to adopt more of its message and try to make some progress every day, even if it's just a baby step.
As always, thank you for reading.
Coner x
My Favourite Things 💖
- 🎨Artwork: Sarah Arnold-Hall has done more than just the image I linked earlier; she also has other great pieces of art and you can check them out here.
- 🎬YouTube Video: With inflation going through the roof, you might have found yourself questioning it all like me. How did this happen? What is inflation? What's the solution? Well, the good news is Johnny Harris has this great video explaining inflation in 6 minutes to answer all those questions.
This Week's Content 📚
- This week I published the first blog post on my blog in a while, How to make a flicker-free dark theme toggle with Next.js, TailwindCSS, and
`next-themes`. Going forward, I'm planning on making the blog post-release cycle into a more regular pattern, either weekly or fortnightly. I'm not 100% sure yet so what do you think; let me know. 💬 - The second piece of content to be published this week was over on the Prismic blog, Guide: React SEO Considerations and Solutions. If you're interested in technical SEO or SEO within React this could be for you.
Thought, Question, Challenge 🤔
- Thought: Small consistent effort > large inconsistent effort.
- Question: Have you ever fallen prey to the hustle culture of 100% maximum effort every day? Was it worth it? What's your thoughts on it now?
- Challenge: This week, as Sarah's image showed, try showing up every day and working towards your goals. It doesn't need to be a lot; just make some progress each day.
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