Well That’s Stoic Of You. Signals In The Noise – Issue 68
Hey there, friend.
If you’re anything like me, you have lots of business ideas. They might be for completely new businesses or just new ways you could bring in more revenue in your existing business.
The thing is, all those ideas can get really distracting if you let them pull you off your course, and they can prevent you from getting where you really want to go.
New destinations are fine if you’re sure you really want to go there and if it’s truly a good idea to head in that direction. But often, chasing new ideas can prevent you from reaching the bigger results you could have had if you had stayed on the same course longer.
Thankfully, I’ve been on the same course heading towards the same general destination for a while now. But I know myself well. After a few years of staying on the same course, part of me will start to itch to head off toward some new place.
I felt that itch coming on a few weeks ago, so I created a new, short, powerful morning practice to help keep me sailing towards the right destination.
I’ve shared this routine with a few people and the feedback has been outstanding, meaning, this process has helped them in big ways, so I’d like to share it with you and see if might help you as well.
Every morning when I first flip on my computer I go directly into my Notion account before I do anything else. (If you haven’t discovered Notion yet, holy moly, go check it out.)
Once I’m in there, I go into a dedicated section just for this purpose. It has a few short, well-organized documents that are linked to from a central page. It’s like the map room in the ship. The documents are my map of the sea.
I open up the main document which summarizes the other 4 documents, and at the top is The Question, which I now ask myself Every. Single. Morning.
“Where am I going and what can I do today to help me get there more efficiently?”
Then I read the summary of ordered, prioritized steps I’m taking within the next few weeks to the next few months to help me get where I want to go.
Because I’m working on four separate projects in my business, there’s a lot that needs to get done. So I prioritize the four projects and within each of those projects are more prioritized things I need to get done to accomplish them.
The summary list is very short and as I get parts of it done, I update it during this process.
Then, I read and update an even shorter section of this page that’s an area for me to write out the few things I will focus on today.
That way, every morning I know exactly what I need to focus on for the day and I can see precisely how what I will do in a given day is leading me on a direct course to the longer-term destination.
The entire process takes about one minute.
If this process lands with you, give it a try. And if you don’t know where you’re going yet, you can start with the short version of The Question. Go to an undisturbed place where you can get some thinking done. Light a bonfire if you like and stare into the flames (that helps me), and then just ask yourself:
“Where am I going?”
And sit. Just be quiet and let whatever arises arise. Jot down some thoughts in a journal while you’re doing this if you like.
It might take a few days, but you will eventually get clear on what The Destination is for you.
Once you know The Destination, the place you want to go with your life and business, then keep asking yourself The Question each morning:
Where am I going and what can I do today that will help me get there more efficiently?
And see what happens.
If you give this a try, let me know how it goes.
Alright. Onward with some of the best things I found out there on the internet that can help you sail your ship to The Destination.
Well That’s Stoic Of You.
One of my top 10 all-time favorite books is Ryan Holiday’s The Obstacle Is The Way. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it. It’s about using the ancient wisdom of the Stoics to help us turn any challenge into an opportunity to become stronger and better. That was the book that got Ryan on my radar.
I came across this video of his a few days ago, where he takes you through a day in his life, the life of a modern stoic. His perspective on life and his daily rhythms are refreshing. I found myself having serious office envy, as he’s surrounded by even more books than I’m surrounded with in my library. (That, and he gets to feed his farm animals each morning.)
There’s so much simple, grounded wisdom in the stoic philosophy of living life, and it’s worth a watch to see how Ryan engages stoic wisdom into his daily routines.
Free Milk
You’ll often hear from people who teach online marketing say that “the money is in the list,” as if your email list is the teat of a cow that you can tug and squeeze so money squirts out into the bucket. But that’s not how we roll, you and me. We’re not teat squeezers. For us, it’s about the relationship we build with the people on our email list. (You thought I was going to say it’s about the relationship you have with the teat, didn’t you.)
In order to start that relationship off, it helps if you have a solid, enticing free offer to get people on your email list so you can then build a relationship with them over time (which is what I’m doing with you in these newsletters.)
If you’re new to the idea of creating free offers that people actually want to opt-in for, here’s a great video from the folks at Social Media Examiner about how to do just that. While you’re watching that imma go be like Ryan Holiday and milk the cows.
Once Written, Twice Shy
This takes less than two minutes to read. Five powerful, easy-to-remember tips that can kick your writing up a notch. Here’s Josh Spector with a two-minute writing tip.
Cash Pro
There are times in all small businesses when you need to create a quick injection of cash for your business or family. I don’t know any online entrepreneur that hasn’t faced this challenge at some point. The question, though, is how, especially if you’re not a fan of doing discounted sales. Tara McMullin has some answers, with 5 Ways To Generate Revenue Now Without Having A Sale.
That’s it for this week, my friend. Give The Question a try and if you do, let me know how it goes for you.
All the best,
~Forest Linden
P.S. If you enjoyed this newsletter and think someone you know would get something out of these, I would be ever so grateful if you could forward the link to this page to them. Here it is for you: https://claritylab.co/intelligence-brief-issue-68/