Do Less, Achieve More: That Someday is Today

Jun 25 (edited) in Self Improvement & Motivation

Matthew Dicks is no ordinary author. He's survived three near-death experiences, including a horrific car crash and being held at gunpoint at 22. These experiences forced him to reevaluate his life and what he wanted to achieve. He went from being broke, living in his car, and working at McDonald's to becoming a best-selling author, world champion storyteller, and award-winning journalist.

In his own words: "I was sure that I was going to die that day and I will tell you that I did not feel fear or sadness or anger. The only feeling I was consumed with was regret. I was 22 years old and I had failed to do anything with my life that I had wanted to do."

Seven actionable tips from "Someday is Today" that can help you achieve more of what you want in life.

1. The Parking Lot Practice

One of my favorite quotes from the book is "productivity is not pretty." We've all seen those Instagram-worthy study spaces and perfectly color-coded notes, but true productivity often looks messy and improvised.

Matthew shares a great example of this. He was early for a dentist appointment and, instead of scrolling through social media to pass the time, he pulled out his laptop right there in the parking lot and continued writing his novel.

The point is, there's never going to be a perfect place or setting to get things done, especially when life is chaotic. If you're always waiting for the right time or the perfect environment, you'll be waiting forever. The same applies to eating healthily, going to the gym, or building a business – the timing is never going to be perfect.

The people who succeed are the ones who take action despite imperfect conditions. They make progress wherever and whenever they can.

The lesson? Don't wait for the perfect time or place. The time is now.

Action step: Next time you find yourself with a few unexpected minutes, challenge yourself to make progress on a project or goal, no matter where you are.

2. The Minutes Mindset

We often plan our days in hour-long blocks, but this can lead to wasting a lot of time. Matthew shares a brilliant story about meeting someone who wanted to write a book:

"She met me at the McDonald's and she was late... I said, 'Well, you were 7 minutes late today.' She said, 'I'm so sorry.' I'm like, 'No, no, no, my point was not that you were 7 minutes late and I was upset. My point was I used the 7 minutes that you were late to write some sentences.'"

After his near-death experiences, Matthew realized the profound value of time. He didn't want to come to the end of his life regretting that he hadn't achieved the things he wanted to do. So now, he tries to make the most of every single minute, not just every hour.

Now, this doesn't mean you should never take breaks or relax. Rest and relaxation are crucial for sustainable productivity. But it's worth considering: what do you usually do with those small pockets of time throughout your day? Could you use some of them more intentionally to work towards your goals?

Action step: Start viewing your day in terms of minutes rather than hours. Ask yourself: "What can I accomplish in the next 10 minutes?" You might be surprised at how much you can get done.

3. The Lilypad Method

Matthew writes that "the only real failure for any creator is to stop making stuff." This applies to all kinds of creative work – writing, making videos, studying for exams, learning to code, starting a business, or working on sales scripts.

Sometimes, these big projects can feel overwhelming, especially when we have a lot going on in our lives. Conventionally, we're taught to approach goals sequentially, starting at the beginning and working through to the end. But Matthew suggests a different approach: the Lilypad Method.

The idea is that you don't need to start at the beginning or finish at the end. You can jump around, like a frog leaping from one lilypad to another. Here's how Matthew explains it:

"I think sometimes people see a goal or a dream as a linear process, like A to B to C, and I think that's always a mistake... Seeing your dream as stepping stones, but you get to touch whichever one you want at any point, because you're going to have to touch all of them eventually – that's really helpful."

So, if you break down your goal into tasks, think of them as lilypads. On days when you feel overwhelmed by one task or lack motivation for it, you can leap to another "lilypad" and make progress in a different area.

I love this approach because it gives you flexibility and helps maintain momentum. For example, writer Mo Gawdat, who's written several books on happiness and is a world expert in happiness research, told that he always works on 5-6 different books in parallel. Each morning, he asks himself which project he feels most drawn to that day and works on that one.

The key takeaway here is to ask yourself: How can I start in the middle with some of my goals rather than always at the beginning? When I feel stuck or overwhelmed with one task, is there another area where I can make progress instead?

4. The Horizon Habit

You've probably heard of SMART goals – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. While these can be useful, they can also be limiting, especially when we set goals for things outside our control. For instance, if you want to start a YouTube channel and set a goal of hitting a million subscribers, that's specific and measurable, but it's not entirely within your control and could become demotivating.

Instead, Matthew suggests setting what he calls "Horizon goals." These are more general, directional goals that you can see on the horizon but aren't too specific. He explains:

"I like to identify that idea of 'I'm going to be a storyteller,' but that 'I'm going to be a storyteller' also allows, because it's on the horizon, to be maybe I'll teach storytelling someday, maybe I'll be a consultant about storytelling, maybe an advertising company will allow me to inject storytelling into their car commercials, which is what I've done. All of those things are sort of on the storytelling horizon, but it affords me the opportunity to be flexible in terms of what ultimately is going to happen."

This approach gives you both freedom and resilience. If your goal is to be a musician, for example, you might consider all the ways you can incorporate that dream into your career. You could become a band member, but you could also try songwriting, DJing, radio presenting, music production, event management, teaching, or creating online content about music. All of these are on the "music horizon," but this flexibility gives you more options and resilience in pursuing your passion.

Action step: Instead of setting rigid goals, try setting a general direction for where you want to go. This allows for more flexibility and resilience in the face of unexpected changes.

5. The Piano Precedent

There's a great quote from the book: "5-year plans are inviting the universe to drop a piano on you." Essentially, if you try to meticulously plan out your life, it's inevitable that something will happen to completely derail your plans.

This doesn't mean planning isn't important. Having a general direction is crucial – as the quote from Alice in Wonderland goes, "If you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there." But it's about finding a balance between having a direction and being flexible enough to adapt to life's unpredictability.

I like to think of it as a graph with your plans on one axis and fate on the other. Your life's path is somewhere between these two. You're unlikely to always follow your plans exactly, but having some sort of plan allows you to navigate the waters of fate rather than being completely at its mercy.

Action step: Next time you're making plans, include some flexibility. Ask yourself: "How can I work towards my goals while still being open to unexpected opportunities?"

6. The 100-Year-Old Plan

One of the early chapters in Matthew's book introduces a powerful thought experiment: when you're at a crossroads in life, try to imagine your 100-year-old self and think, "What advice would my 100-year-old self give to me right now?"

Matthew gives an example of sitting at his desk, working on a deadline, when his son asks him to play tag. One option is to continue working, being disciplined and focused. But when he thinks about what his 100-year-old self would advise, the answer is clear: go play with the kid. There will come a day when the child no longer wants to play, so take advantage of these moments while you can.

Similarly, Alex Hormozi has a practice he calls the "Solomon project," where he imagines having a conversation with his 86-year-old self during journaling sessions. He asks this older, wiser version of himself for advice on what he should do now.

This kind of thinking is incredibly valuable because it helps us make decisions based on what's truly important in the long run, rather than what feels urgent at the moment. It's something I still struggle with – often choosing schoolwork over friends or family because work feels urgent or fun. But I know that my older self would want me to prioritize relationships, health, and experiences over short-term work goals.

Action step: Next time you're facing a difficult decision, take a moment to imagine what your 100-year-old self would advise. It can help put things in perspective.

7. The Purposeful Approach

When we talk about productivity, it's easy to default to thinking about school, work, business, or research. But sometimes we need to take a step back and really think about why we want to get things done efficiently.

Matthew has a great perspective on this:

"When people say productivity sort of grinds you down, I think of productivity as the thing that you want to be doing, that you should be doing more of. So let's maximize our life, the things we have to do in order to sustain life, in order to get to the things we want to do. So we don't have to think of productivity in terms of work."

The way I think about it is that I want to make the most of my time, not for its own sake or to maximize output, but because it frees me up to spend time on things that truly matter to me.

This is why Matthew is a big fan of what he calls "soft goals" – things that aren't necessarily productive by standard definitions, but are intentional and meaningful to us. He gives an example:

"I was talking to a client the other day and I said, 'Well, what's your horizon goal?' And she said, 'I want to see the 50 greatest movies of all time. There's a list in the world, I have the list, and I want to sit on my couch and watch the 50 greatest movies.' She said, 'But that doesn't feel super productive.' And I said, 'That sounds incredibly productive to me because it's your dream.'"

The action point here is to figure out what your "soft goals" are. What are the things that might not look productive to others, but are intentional, satisfying, and bring you a sense of meaning and fulfillment? By being productive in other areas of your life – work, studies, chores – you can free up more time and energy to devote to these meaningful pursuits.

Action step: Identify your "soft goals." What are the things that might not seem productive to others, but are deeply satisfying and meaningful to you? How can you make more time for these in your life?

Wrapping Up

These seven tips from Matthew Dicks' "Someday is Today" offer a fresh perspective on productivity and achieving our goals. They encourage us to make the most of every moment, be flexible in our approach, think long-term, and focus on what truly matters to us.

Remember, the key is not just to be more productive for productivity's sake, but to create more time and energy for the things that bring us joy and fulfillment. So, take these tips, adapt them to your life, and start making progress towards your dreams today. After all, someday is today!

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I really hope you find them helpful and start using the tips I share. I've dedicated my entire freshman year to researching productivity, life improvement, study techniques, note-taking methods, and more. This involved reading tons of books, scouring the web, talking to people, and watching around 3000 hours of YouTube videos on these topics.

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