Keep a To-Don't List...

A man asked his gardener, “How do you make your plants grow so beautifully?”

The gardener replied, “I don’t force them to grow. I simply remove what stops them.”

Michelangelo said something similar…

When asked how he carved the statue of David, he said:

“It’s simple. I just remove everything that is NOT David.”

This is called: Addition through Subtraction.

Often, on our quest to unlock inner-greatness, we begin by looking in all the wrong places.

We look to introduce fancy new habits like cold plunges, red light therapy, or gratitude journals because we believe the reason we are not where we want to be is because there’s something we’re not doing.

And ya know what? Sometimes we do need to introduce new habits.

But…

In my experience, the thing really holding us back are the things we need to STOP doing.

Imagine you’re a car.

Great habits are the accelerator. Bad habits are the emergency break.

You could press harder on the accelerator, and sure, you’ll go quicker…

But do you smell that?

Yeah, that’s the smell of burn out.

So, before pressing the pedal all the way to the metal, let’s first make sure we’ve disengaged the emergency break.

That is, let’s eliminate those habits holding us back before worrying about the ones that’ll propel us forward.

Here are 3 of the most common bad habits that have personally held me back:

1. The Scarcity Mindset

Many of us are haunted by the specter of scarcity, fearing there’s never enough of whatever we seek (money, love, attention, security, joy, time, etc…)

The paradox here is that when we worry about not having enough, we close ourselves off to the opportunties around us.

And therefore our reality mirrors our beliefs.

Here’s the thing…

Any belief held strongly enough will inevitably become true.

So be careful what you choose to believe…

Because in a very real way, it’ll become your reality.

2. Prioritizing Urgency Over Impact

We live in a noisy world filled with “loud” tasks vying for our attention.

And unfortunately, the loudest tasks tend to be the most urgent (and rarely the most important).

When we’re trapped in the cycle of urgency, it’s easy to confuse being busy with being productive.

But not everything that demands your attention deserves your attention.

3. Collecting Dots Instead of Connecting Dots

This third habit is subtle (and often mistaken for a virtue)…

It’s the excessive collection of dots, or in layman’s terms, the relentless pursuit of knowledge.

The problem?

It’s very hard to get paid for collecting dots.

Surprisingly easy, however, to get paid for connecting them.

**Dots = Information

Remember, the acquisition of knowlege is valuable, but it’s the APPLICATIONS of knowledge that creates real impact in the world.

Truly, life gets good when you stop collecting more dots… and just start connecting the ones you already have.

Or, put another way:

Consume Less. Create More.

Stay Hyperfocused, My Friend.
Anthony "Still Working On The 3%" Vicino

P.S. click here if ya want to be a sneaky lil' voyeur and take a peek at my personal To-Don't List.

1. Need more help creating your To-Don't list?

​Watch this episode of the Amplified Impact podcast and I promise it'll make you dangerously productive.

3. Ready to build a business that doesn’t fall apart when you have an off week?

If you’re an entrepreneur stuck ~$30k/month and want some help unlocking that next level of growth... then hit reply with the words "escape velocity" and I'll send ya the details of the private group program I run that'll help you scale to $100k/month (without wanting to pull your hair out).​​