Business Mistakes

2020: The Year of Learning Less

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It’s January 24th in most of the world. If you’re part of the small percentage of people who hasn’t already given up on your new year’s resolutions, GOD BLESS YOU.

You’re a rare individual.

I want to share a weird twist on the 80-20 principle that you can apply to your resolutions — or anything else you want to do.

I saw a top 10 list of resolutions for 2020 (taken from a survey of 275K Americans):

1. Actually doing my New Year’s resolution
2. Trying something new
3. Eat more of my favorite foods
4. Lose weight/diet
5. Go to the gym
6. Be happier/better mental health
7. Be more healthy
8. Be a better person
9. Upgrade my technology
10. Staying motivated

For most people, at least 7 of these things will involve reading books, watching videos or buying courses.

They gotta learn a better diet, discover the secret to staying motivated, etc.

But here’s the thing (and where 80-20 comes into play):

I want to encourage you to…

… Learn LESS in 2020.

Why?

Because too often, we wait to start doing what we resolve to do… because we want to learn a little more first.

You know, to make sure we do it the right way. (That’s what we tell ourselves, at least.)

Before you know it, you’ve listened to hours of podcasts — and you’re probably more confused than when you started.

It’s easy to spend 80% of your time “learning”… and then struggling to spend 20% on execution.

Chances are you already know 80% of what you need to know. And that’s 100% good enough for you to get started.

And you’ll learn the rest once you’re in motion.

When you make your decisions in 2020, get into action as quickly as possible.

Read fewer books. Read more people. Read more rooms. Get more hands-on learning and derive data from that.

If you do that, 2020 will be like no year you’ve ever experienced before.

What You Can Learn from My Biggest Blunder

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Fail to Learn podcast

They say experience is the best teacher
That’s what they teach us in school
I say experience is the teacher of fools
‘Cause a wise man will learn from another man’s errors
Then apply that to determine what he shall choose
~ Da T.R.U.T.H., Click (No Regrets)

No, my biggest mistake wasn’t trying to become a rapper, although the idea did appeal to me for a few years in high school.

It’s not often that I talk about the time when my copywriting business nearly suffocated under the weight of my own stupidity. But Matt Fox got me to open up and dive into the details on an episode of his shiny new show, the Fail to Learn podcast.

I’m not going to give away the juicy details here. If you’re interested to hear about the attitude that nearly put me in the poorhouse, the advice I didn’t listen to — even though I tell other entrepreneurs not to do this all the time — and the steps I took to make my comeback, click over to Matt’s site and listen to Freelance Copywriter Painfully Discovers What Happens When You Neglect Your Own Marketing.

There are a couple other great interviews on the site you should check out, too.

As Da T.R.U.T.H said, there’s no need to learn things the hard way, in many cases. Learn from the mistakes of others…find out what warning signs you need to watch out for and how to avoid the pitfalls that may await you.

In the interview, I also talk about

  • a book that had a big impact on me in 2015
  • why my voicemail greeting offends a LOT of people (and why I’m happy about that)
  • the importance of proactive scheduling
  • a tool most freelancers don’t use enough that could help them close a lot more of the right kinds of deals
  • my worst habits
  • …and a whole lot more.

Another cool thing about the Fail to Learn site: Matt’s giving away How A Business Fails, a very helpful PDF report that outlines the 5 stages you go through when failing and give yourself a fighting chance to thrive. This is something you’re going to want to download and perform some self-analysis.

I had a lot of fun recording this interview and I hope you have a blast listening and learning.

One more thing: A couple years ago, I had a conversation with Matt about how to communicate more persuasively. He hands out some great gems in this interview.