Taking massive action is dumb if you have a 9-to-5 job – Do this instead

Everyone is telling you to take massive action.

“Taking massive action is the key to success.”

“Taking massive action is the number way to succeed.”

Look, screw taking massive action. Because, if you have a 9-to-5 job, you can’t easily take massive action as you’ve already sold your time to someone else.

So, what can you do instead?

Enter Consistent Action

Small actions add up.

Imagine doing something every day for the next month. What do you think will happen?

The worst case scenario is that you get better. The best case scenario is that you achieve your goals faster than what you were expecting.

Unfortunately, you were never taught how to be consistent on your own accord.

See, most parents force their children into action by threatening their kids with some form of punishment. Most teachers use the “do this or you’ll get an F” as a way to force their student into action. Most bosses threaten their employees with “get it done or you’re fired”. So it becomes awfully hard for people to take action without being threatened or strong-armed into it.

So I’m here to shine the light on how to take Consistent Action.

Here’s my approach to it.

(Caveat: this is not for everyone. What works for me may or may to work for you. Try things out, and stick to that which works for you).

The Three Daily Tasks You Must Always (And I Mean Always) Complete

Choose 3 tasks that you must complete daily that will help you reach your goals. This is NON-NEGOTIABLE. They must always be completed, even you don’t feel like it.

These tasks must be small in scope, easy to accomplish, and repeatable.

By completing these tasks, you’ll be one step closer to that which your heart desires.

Now, how do you know which tasks to choose?

Here are the 4 characteristics you need to take into consideration to select your 3 Daily Tasks:

1. They must be repeatable.
2. They must lead to profits sooner rather than later.
3. They must not take more than 1 hour of work each.
4. They can only be done by you (if you can, delegate everything else)

Let me give you an example.

At the moment of this writing, my 3 daily tasks are:

One – Write my daily email for my newsletter (30 minutes)

Two – Write my social media post (30 minutes)

Three – Find new clients or pitch new services to my current ones (30-60 minutes)

What to do after you’ve completed these tasks?

Rest.

Or, better yet, do other productive stuff.

In my case, I usually do some freelancing work, record videos for an Online Business School I have, or develop more products to sell.

But the reality is that after I complete these tasks, I can take the day off without feeling guilty.

“Hey… remember that I have a 9-to-5 job. This seems rather difficult to achieve?”

FACT: You already sold eight of your productive hours to your employer. This means that you will not have enough time to do other stuff.

You have around 10 productive hours available per day.

Here’s the math: 8hr of sleep + 2 hrs to eat (breakfast, lunch, dinner, cheat meals) + 2 hrs for family/friends + 2 hrs of commute. This adds up to 14hrs that you can’t use to make money or achieve your goals.

Meaning, you have 10 hours left to do what you want. Thing is that you have a 9-to-5 job, so in reality, you only have around 2 hours left to work on achieving your dreams.

Therefore, here’s the workaround you need.

– Choose the Three Task that you can perform every day, but make them smaller in scope.

So my proposal to you is: stop thinking you can take massive action because you can’t (you don’t have enough time in the day, as you still need to pay attention to other areas of your life).

It’s better and smarter to take smaller, consistent action.

Slow and steady every day will always be better than working long hours during weekends.