In one year’s time, what will you regret not starting today? That’s the one year rule.
I went down a giant YouTube rabbit hole recently consuming all sorts of iPad and productivity content when I came across Ali Abdaal’s channel. After watching I swear at least thirty of his videos (he’s wildly entertaining and helpful – highly recommend), I came across his video about the “One Year Rule.” And I was hooked.
What would I regret not starting today? It’s a rough question to have to face yourself with because what it really makes you realize is just how many dreams you have that you haven’t started on. Is it just me – I just sort of assumed they’d all accomplish themselves?
Ask yourself the one year rule question. What are the top three things the today you wants and hopes the year later version of yourself has?
Grab a piece of paper or a partner and ask this question out loud:
In one year’s time, what will you regret not starting today?
If you’re flying solo, write your answer down. If you’ve got a partner to chat with – talk it through together. Be clear, be specific – what’s your future “ideal state” look like? What hobbies or career developments do you wish were a reality today?
Write your answers down or save them somewhere you can refer to later.
Got your answers? NOW write them down. Forbes did an entire feature on why you need to write your goals down to achieve them.
This post isn’t sponsored in any way, but I personally utilized Notion to document my high level goals for both my personal life and business.
Get granular – make a project plan.
The reason I utilized Notion for my own one year rule evaluation is because it’s great for making actual project plans – which is exactly what you need to do to make your goals an actual reality. It’s not enough just to write your goals down. You need to have a roadmap for execution.
Larger high level goals like “launch a podcast” might seem intimidating, daunting, and even impossible. But “brainstorm a list of podcast topics” or “come up with a podcast name” are much more manageable tasks to complete.
List out smaller, more bitesized tasks that ladder up into your larger goal to help you accomplish it. Even the biggest of achievements are made up of the smaller every day actions.
Just start.
I am a master procrastinator – but my biggest regrets professionally and personally are typically rooted in having not started something earlier. I wish I had started Blondes & Bagels years earlier. I wish I had started my YouTube channel years earlier. Because I’d be way further ahead in all these ventures today had I started them sooner.
Fuck perfectionism. Stop waiting to have all your ducks in a row. Just start.
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