c&p #15: The lead domino

To-do lists are great, but often, they can feel like busy work.

Why are you doing those tasks?

What are those tasks moving you towards?

Is the method by which you're doing them efficient enough?

Without solid direction, we can sometimes trick ourselves into feeling productive by ticking off tasks that might not move us forward towards our goals.

Getting things done is less valuable than getting the right things done at the right time.

To that end, a tool I've been using for many, many years now is this idea of the lead domino.

It's a question: what is the most essential thing in your life right now that will move you forward in the most progressive way?

There's always something. Something that has an upsized value over the others. Something that, should it be done, will make all the things that follow it easier.

For me, it's making sales in my business. More than taking photos, creating content, and writing these articles. More than doing YouTube videos, planning content trips, or meeting new people. For me, if I make more sales in my business, I generate more revenue, and that allows me the space, the time, and the financial freedom to do more of the other things that I need to do to make a living doing what I'm doing. Without making sales, I don't get to have the life I lead right now. Plain and simple. To that end, this is where I should be spending the majority of my time in my week.

For you, the most essential thing might be to establish your brand, learn marketing skills, upskill yourself in your craft, or figure out how to make products from your art. Or you might be further up the chain, and perhaps your most important thing is cultivating your community, doing more sales with the products that you have, or getting really, really good at obtaining and nurturing leads for your freelance business.

It's this clarity of understanding what's truly important to the success of your creative life/business/career that really focuses and hones in on your decision-making process.

Clarity of the most important thing. The lead domino. The thing that will cause all the stuff under it to fall into place a lot easier. It's from this place that you should then make your to-do list. Doing it from a place of clarity and direction is far better than ticking boxes and thinking you're productive. Deep down inside, we all know we could be doing better than we are on a day-to-day basis.

This is how we step towards that. We find our lead domino.

See you next week, creative.

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