When I was 14, my great-grandma gave me a 500€ note for my Confirmation. I was awestruck at the mere sight of it, but little did I know.
It would take me 10 years to find the true meaning of this gift.
October 2014. I looked back on the last 30 days and threw my arms up in despair. I had made zero euros. Why couldn’t I get this translator thing to work?
- I had a website.
- I’d written a portfolio.
- I’d made an intro video.
- I had sent out dozens of research emails.
As I was racking my brain I watched an interview with Noah Kagan in which he said:
“When you have a business, have ONE goal. You want to have all these things, but what’s your ONE goal?”
That’s when it hit me: I didn’t want all these things. The website. The video. Not even the translating. I wanted to earn 500€.
I wanted to make 500€ by myself so I could pay for my own rent and food for one month for the first time ever.
I wrote it down.
From that moment on, that goal was my guiding light. Every decision had to pass the test: will this help me make 500€?
The next month I made my first $7.50.
Then 220€ the month after that. In February, I hit my goal. Ever since, I’ve had ONE GOAL guiding all my decisions.
- In May 2015, I set a goal of 10,000 email subscribers – took two years. ✔️
- In 2016, I wanted to write 500,000 words – check. ✔️
- In 2017, I want to answer a question on Quora each day – so far so good.
I use six questions to decide which goal I set:
- Why are you doing what you’re doing? What is your theme?
- 18 months from now, what achievement would have the biggest positive impact on your life with respect to your theme?
- Have you ever had the feeling that a discipline or field was tailor-made just for you?
- What completely consumes your attention once you start doing it?
- What makes your heart race with excitement?
- What do you believe is worthwhile doing, that other people might not agree on?
Then, I turn my goal into one single number I can track. You know, like Facebook did when they went for their first million users.
I write that number down and keep it in sight at all times. Literally. That way, all my decisions align with it.
For a more step-by-step breakdown of the process, see here.
When I was 14, my great-grandma showed me what it feels like to own 500€.
When I was 24, I learned what it feels like to earn 500€. It’s hard.
The way you change your life completely is to change just one single thing, but to give that thing all you’ve got.
It’s counterintuitive, I know. But believe me on this one. If you’ve set your ONE GOAL right, it’ll take you at least a year. Maybe two.
It won’t feel like massive change while you work towards it. That’s the tricky part.
But when you reach it, your life will be completely different.
