How “The One Thing” is Helping Me Pivot to Living the Life I Want
Redistributing focus creates simplicity for my unknown future.
It’s all fun and games until you feel unsafe in a third world country.
This was about a week ago. My fiance Jess and I were in Dahab, Egypt, about to start a 6-month position for an inn looking to attract more residents. We were excited because, while we weren’t getting paid in the traditional sense, our employer would cover our living and food costs.
TL;DR — That was a lie, Dahab was a lie, and we got tf outta there. Oh, and I quit my newly-acquired full-time writing position.
Now, we’re back home in the States, and we’ve had to think hard and fast about our new strategy.
What a whirlwind of a week.
Back to the apartment life. Back to the same location. Back to not going on as many trips as before. Back to being broke.
Some may see this as a backtrack, and trust me, for a while I thought so too. But now that we’re in the thick of it, reapplying for apartments and utilities and insurance and whatever else is super important for this lifestyle, I feel a sense of comfort. Calm.
The last thing to get set was what to do with my time.
I had a few options:
- Go back to my job as a financial advisor’s assistant. And I did reach out to my previous employer. Sadly, he doesn’t have a position open for me and my talents (or lackthereof).
- Begin to apply for endless freelance writing gigs. Again. This is equivalent to setting your nipples on fire and hoping one of the passersby will have a bottle of water they could so graciously give to you.
- Do Medium, put affiliate links in my posts, do Instagram, gain a following and become an influencer, do Steemit, make money from every and all posts on that platform, write short fiction, publish it on Amazon and pray for some sales…
Whoa whoa whoa. Slow down there, chief.
It’s important not to lose sight of your original goal.
For me, it was work for myself. Write for a living. Have the time to workout and eat healthy and grow my relationships. Travel whenever and wherever.
That was my dream. I still have to try and live it.
But when you get knocked on your ass — twice — it’s tough not to swing full force to the other side, like a pendulum. Oh, working in Egypt for 6 months as a digital nomad didn’t work out? Better go get a 9-to-5 job with stability and never leave home ever again!
We need middle ground.
So option 1 is out. I’m not that interested in finance anyways. I did love working for my employer because he is the chillest dude on the planet, but that shouldn’t be a reason to give up 40 hours of my week so I can eat and sleep comfortably. F*ck that.
Option 3 is the Millennial work version of information overload. Or, a one-way ticket to Burnout City. And I don’t want a one-way ticket anywhere for a while, if ya know what I mean.
So option 2. The whole nipples-on-fire situation. Super.
At least it’s what “The One Thing” preaches:
“What’s the ONE THING I can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?”
This is a tremendous question to ask yourself in business as well as all other facets of life.
- Don’t know how to start eating healthy? What’s the ONE THING you can implement into your diet today that will make it easier?
- Having a hard time trying to go on dates with your significant other? What’s ONE THING you can do that can make planning dates and going on them easier?
- Don’t know which career path to choose? Which ONE pathway renders all other options unnecessary or makes life easier?
Doing all of the social media was not going to work out for me, and while the first option does make things much easier, it isn’t in-tune with my lifestyle.
Therefore, I’m back to being a freelance writer and blogger. And truly, I never left. I just had a moment of panic — or, more like multiple moments of panic — and I started thinking of my options. It took me away from my main objective, my ONE THING:
Write, dammit.
So I’ll write. I’ll write for my income. I’ll write for myself. I’ll write for you, reader, so that your time on Medium is well spent. I’ve simplified my wants to one thing spread across three mediums (clients, personal fiction, Medium), and my brain is thanking me for it.
Whenever you’re overwhelmed, think of your ONE THING.
You know what I’m talking about. Your passion. Your purpose. You don’t need all of these productivity articles, social media breaks, webinars, or whatever you think will get you to the next level.
Here’s how you grow and succeed: Do the ONE THING that sets your soul on fire. As often and consistent as possible.
If life’s taught me anything, it’s to not stray too far away from that fire.
(Not the nipple fire, but the soul fire.)
