We often mix up those ideas, simple and easy. But really they’re two completely different things. You hear this confusion sometimes after a successful strategy is revealed to be incredibly simple, when people respond by saying, “it can’t be that easy.” It’s not easy, it’s simple.
For example, imagine if I told you that in order to create a popular blog or podcast or youtube channel, 80% of your success comes down to the simple strategy of publishing consistently and frequently. This strategy is simple, but it’s not easy by any means. In fact, this strategy is so difficult to pull off that only a tiny fraction of people who attempt it will succeed. I mean I will be honest creating a simple blog post each week gets to be difficult for me. But I’ve committed to it, so every week in order to have something interesting and worthwhile to share I have to make it easy on myself to make it happen.
This is true of so many things we want to achieve. We know what needs to be done. The strategy part is almost laughably simple. But the execution… the execution phase is the graveyard of good intentions. And you know what I say about good intentions. You have to give them some attention. If you don’t have the book, get it. It’ll help you.
Showing up day after day after day, to do repeatedly do something, requires incredible self-discipline and focus. Most of us would rather give in to the part of our brain that prefers a quick hit of dopamine from the nearest Tiktok video or shiny new project.
But stay the course, simple can be easy if you try these 3 tips:
1. Start. It doesn’t matter what it is starting a YouTube channel or writing a book. The key is to start. Start well by thinking of a title. Decide on a goal the reader should get from reading it. Then, give titles to the first 5 chapters. You’ll be amazed at just how much momentum will follow a good start.
2. Minimize to Maximize. Make the minimum thing you need to accomplish to consider your attempt successful as small as possible. Don’t require a perfect blog post every time, just require that you publish something. Whew! How simple is that? You’d be surprised at how counterintuitive it is to have a low expectation give you really high results.
3. Don’t confuse simple and easy. The greatest strategies are incredibly simple to describe, but exceedingly difficult to pull off. It’s up to you to set your bar in a way that’s easy to clear every time you commit to showing up. This enables you to be sure your “simple and easy strategy” doesn’t take a dive on the one inevitable day when you just don’t have the energy to go big ‘all in’.
To Your Success,
MG
For example, imagine if I told you that in order to create a popular blog or podcast or youtube channel, 80% of your success comes down to the simple strategy of publishing consistently and frequently. This strategy is simple, but it’s not easy by any means. In fact, this strategy is so difficult to pull off that only a tiny fraction of people who attempt it will succeed. I mean I will be honest creating a simple blog post each week gets to be difficult for me. But I’ve committed to it, so every week in order to have something interesting and worthwhile to share I have to make it easy on myself to make it happen.
This is true of so many things we want to achieve. We know what needs to be done. The strategy part is almost laughably simple. But the execution… the execution phase is the graveyard of good intentions. And you know what I say about good intentions. You have to give them some attention. If you don’t have the book, get it. It’ll help you.
Showing up day after day after day, to do repeatedly do something, requires incredible self-discipline and focus. Most of us would rather give in to the part of our brain that prefers a quick hit of dopamine from the nearest Tiktok video or shiny new project.
But stay the course, simple can be easy if you try these 3 tips:
1. Start. It doesn’t matter what it is starting a YouTube channel or writing a book. The key is to start. Start well by thinking of a title. Decide on a goal the reader should get from reading it. Then, give titles to the first 5 chapters. You’ll be amazed at just how much momentum will follow a good start.
2. Minimize to Maximize. Make the minimum thing you need to accomplish to consider your attempt successful as small as possible. Don’t require a perfect blog post every time, just require that you publish something. Whew! How simple is that? You’d be surprised at how counterintuitive it is to have a low expectation give you really high results.
3. Don’t confuse simple and easy. The greatest strategies are incredibly simple to describe, but exceedingly difficult to pull off. It’s up to you to set your bar in a way that’s easy to clear every time you commit to showing up. This enables you to be sure your “simple and easy strategy” doesn’t take a dive on the one inevitable day when you just don’t have the energy to go big ‘all in’.
To Your Success,
MG
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