3-2-1: Productivity, success, and 3 simple questions to improve your day

Happy 3-2-1 Thursday!

Here are 3 ideas, 2 quotes, and 1 question to consider this week.

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I.

3 simple questions to improve your day.

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At the beginning of the day:

"What am I optimizing for?"

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During the day:

"What's the best small thing I can do right now?"

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At the end of the day:

"Did I do my best?"

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(Share this on Twitter)​

​II.

"The person who gets 1 shot needs everything to go right.

The person who gets 1000 shots is going to score at some point.

Find a way to play the game that ensures you get a lot of shots."

(Share this on Twitter)​

III.

A relevant section from Atomic Habits for anyone building a new habit this year:

"People often think it's weird to get hyped about reading one page or meditating for one minute or making one sales call. But the point is not to do one thing. The point is to master the habit of showing up. The truth is, a habit must be established before it can be improved. If you can't learn the basic skill of showing up, then you have little hope of mastering the finer details. Instead of trying to engineer a perfect habit from the start, do the easy thing on a more consistent basis. You have to standardize before you can optimize."

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I.

Standup comedian Cameron Esposito on success:

"There is no formula for success—you just begin and then you continue. I’m often asked how to have a career in stand-up and the answer is confoundingly simple: Do the work. Over and over again, just do the work. After you build the courage to get onstage that first time, it’s all about repetition."

Source: In the Company of Women​

​II.

Thomas Mitchell, a farmer, on productivity:

"It is wonderful how much work can be got through in a day, if we go by the rule—map out our time, divide it off, and take up one thing regularly after another. To drift through our work, or to rush through it in a helter-skelter fashion, ends in comparatively little being done. "One thing at a time" will always perform a better day's work than doing two or three things at a time. By following this rule, one person will do more in a day than another does in a week."

Source: Essays on Life​

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A question from writer and programmer Simon Sarris:

If you know what you want, why are you waiting?

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Until next week,

James Clear
​Author of the #1 worldwide bestseller, Atomic Habits​
Creator of the Habit Journal​

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p.s. You have a lot of self-awareness.

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