One Hour

1. I want to do things, but I run out of motivation

It’s time to tackle this head-on. I’ve mentioned some of this before, I’ve talked about it on stream, I’ve told people individually. Now it’s time to write it down.

Imagine that it’s Monday. It’s been a long day, you worked, ran errands, whatever. Now you could sit down and work on whatever thing you want to do or learn, but you’re tired. Yesterday you did it, and it was a great time. But yesterday you had the magic sauce. Yesterday, for some reason, you had motivation. Tonight, you don’t have that. It’s probably ok if you just play some video games, drink a beer or two, watch TV, take the night off. You can work on that thing again when you feel like it.

Are you somewhere in that paragraph? Be honest with yourself. I used to be in that paragraph more often than not. As long as motivation held out I was pretty good at getting things done, but motivation is a fickle mistress. She does not deign to visit me consistently, and she dislikes any hint of discomfort. You know what happened to me? A graveyard of false starts, half finished ideas, and abandoned projects.

I don’t think I’m the exception here, I think this is the norm for humanity. We are still hard-wired to eat as much tasty food as we can find and conserve as much energy as we can. Repeat until something kills us. Unfortunately I don’t want that kind of life, and if you’re reading this then you probably don’t either. You probably have cool ideas and ambitions and want to learn and grow. If that’s you, then welcome! You’re among friends.

I had to sit myself down and have a good hard look at this pattern a while back. Because I realized that I wasn’t actually accomplishing anything or doing any of the things that I wanted to do. Time was ticking, I was getting older, and things weren’t just happening.

When I put it like that it sounds kinda absurd, doesn’t it? Why would things just happen? Why would I magically wake up one day and find myself the kind of person that would do stuff?

2. What do? You gonna tell me you don’t know again?

Good news everyone! I have ideas for this one. Ideas that have worked for me for years. Ideas that are so deceptively simple that you’re gonna hate yourself for not thinking of them sooner. Or at least that’s how I felt when I thought of them.

Now, here’s the answer. The full answer. In its entirety.

1. Promise yourself that you will spend at least one hour per day putting forth your best effort at working on something you have wanted to do.
2. Break that promise to yourself as few times as humanly possible.

That’s it. Simple.

3. What if I miss a day because I really really don’t feel like it? Can I just….

Nope. There are no deals with yourself to skip today and do extra tomorrow. There is nothing to get confused about. Did you miss a day and feel bad, like you let yourself down?

Good.

You did.

That time is gone.

It will never come back.

That is how time works.

Do better today.

4. OK but what about….?

No. There are no what abouts.

5. But I need a……

Do you? Do you really? Because I call those “needas” and they are almost always lies. Your brain is gonna fight you on this, and you need to learn to be honest with yourself. There is no magic gadget or technique that is going to make you more organized so that the task is easier. You do not need that new text book you can’t afford yet.

Would it be helpful? Probably. But you don’t need it to start. Start looking for blogs and videos. Write a list of questions for yourself, go answer them. Do something. Anything. Even if it’s not the right thing or not the most efficient thing it will be something.

6. I don’t know where to start

Fantastic! Your first hour should be spent figuring out a starting point. Bonus points if you have enough time to actually start.

7. I started working on X, but now I need to work on Y because it’s a higher priority for some reason

So? I didn’t say you should spend an hour working on X. I said you should put forth your best effort at working on something you want to do.

8. Another objection that you haven’t even thought of yet!

Look, we are all different, and we’re all gonna have different challenges to overcome here. But if you sit down and really really think about it, is that objection really valid? Or is your brain doing a really good job at lying to you so that you can justify being a lazy monkey.

I know what the answer usually is for me when I start thinking of good excuses. I learned about those lies when I tried to quit smoking over and over again in my 20’s. Recognizing that those were all lies and embracing the suck that was to come ultimately allowed me to quit.

If you choose to stop believing your own lies you will be one step closer to being unstoppable.

9. Oh, so it’s hustle culture stuff. Yawn

Nope. I’m not super convinced those guys are accomplishing all that much. This is about doing things you want to do. It can be a side hustle for money, it can be something that you want to learn to level up your career and make more money, or it can be something you want to do purely for your own enjoyment.

The what is not important. Any resemblance to hustle culture is purely coincidental and a reminder that a good idea or two can be found in places that might surprise you. Even if you don’t agree with the ideas that surround them.

10. You’re just recycling Jocko Willink advice

I actually heard some of his talking points after I had been doing this for several years. He’s got some good stuff to say for sure, and a lot of it I agree with based on my personal experience. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him put a minimum time on things though, and that’s one of the keys to my approach.

The minimum comes through for me on those days when I really can’t get into the zone, and I’m just phoning it in. “It’s only an hour” is much more approachable to my mind than “I go anyway” is. More on that later.

I’m also not trying to be a motivational speaker here. I’m attempting, in my own clumsy way, to answer a question that has been posed to me directly in both rhetorical and earnest format. The question of how to get stuff done when you “have no motivation.”

11. Boy, your sections sure are short today

You’re not wrong. I wanted to address all the arguments I could think of (or have actually heard) in rapid fire fashion. Is it working? Have you decided to stop objecting yet?

12. OK fine, tell me more

The hour is magic. It’s a reasonable chunk of time to accomplish something, but it’s not really long enough to accomplish a large chunk of work.

You’re going to have different types of days when you make this promise to yourself. You’re gonna have days when you will be on the struggle bus for an entire hour. Maybe you’re tired, maybe a new video game has just been released and you’re dying to play it. Maybe something else will be on your mind and you’re distracted.

On those days it will be a struggle to make meaningful progress. That’s ok. You’re going to make some kind of progress. And then you’re gonna go do whatever it is that you really want to be doing that day, even if that’s just going to bed early.

If you commit to one hour a day of progress, and you stick to that commitment, then you will have completed a bare minimum of 365 hours of work at the end of that year. If your side project was a full time job that would be just over 9 full work weeks of progress. And that doesn’t even account for the side effects of doing things for “just an hour.”

You see, some days you’re going to be on a roll and work longer, or you’re gonna push yourself to finish up that last little bit of what you were working on. Sometimes that hour is going to get the ball rolling and you’re going to spend two, three, four hours working on that thing.

Take those wins when you can, and stack up “free” hours of progress toward your goals. Progress is a great motivator, and you’ll accidentally find that you do have motivation. It was just hiding behind your monkey brain’s aversion to doing “hard” stuff.

This method is endlessly applicable. Want to write a monthly blog in addition to trying to build a streaming channel and make a game engine for an old genre that not many people care about? Spend your hour on that blog post a few days here and there, then go back to your other projects. Progress will be made.

Just be warned, if you do not increase the number of hours you work on these projects then doing these “side quest” type activities will slow down the other project a little bit, you decide if that’s worth it or not, and if/how you want to mitigate that slowdown.

13. I’m curious, but not convinced. I have a crazy life

We all have the same number of hours in a day, but not the same responsibilities. I get that, some folks have other obligations. But truly ask yourself, is that just a lie your brain is telling you? Is there nowhere that you could possibly find an hour to devote to self-improvement or progress on something you truly want to do?

It might take some changes, but I’d be surprised if they’re as painful as you think. I spend a lot less time playing games now, and I still feel pretty good about the progress I’ve traded that for.

14. So this is magic and fixes me instantly, right?

Everyone is different, but this method really helped me start doing more of the things I wanted to do. When I’m feeling worn out, self-critical of my progress, or just stuck on something, the knowledge that I only need to tackle an hour is often enough to help me grind through that and get back to the fun parts.

There is no magic trick or product that will fix us all. At least I haven’t found one yet. If you find one please tell me about it. This method helps a lot, but you still have to find the grit to commit to that hour.

It’s still going to be hard sometimes, especially at the start when it’s not a habit and you haven’t built any momentum yet. That’s when it’s most important to stick with it. “It’s only an hour” is a good mantra to repeat to yourself when you’re struggling to start. You’ve probably used that exact same phrase when justifying watching TV or playing a game instead of doing something. Why not weaponize it for good?

If you do end up trying my method I’d be interested to know how well it works for you. I’ve had a few people try it out already but a larger sample size and some feedback would be great.