Where the rubber meets the road
haideralmosawi • 17 Jan 2025 •
I’m at a cafe with my laptop and notebook (the physical kind), and no book!
I’ve been spending the last few weeks doing lots of reading. First it was about building systems/improving operations, then I started a book on creating online courses. Over a third of the way into the book and I feel like I know most of the stuff covered AND the book is insanely repetitive it’s driving me nuts. I started to cross off paragraphs I feel are too repetitive as I’m reading.
I decided to stop reading for now and to focus on outlining my courses and fleshing out their content. I already have a course published on working with our emotions. I want to publish 3 more courses on:
- Life balance (and - more specifically - the fact that defining success and achieving success involves more than one factor, which is why a holistic approach to life is crucial)
- Productivity (I want to help people get unstuck and realize their potential by going back to productivity basics and simplifying our approach to getting things done. This should help with the overthinking problem, @therealbrandonwilson 😜)
- Habits (my approach to building habits builds on some popular ideas - such as keeping habit commitments small - but I disagree with a lot of conventional advice in this area, especially the over-glorification of streaks #sorryBrandon)
My plan was to publish all 3 by the end of this month and sell them as a bundle, but the time I spent (i.e. wasted) on too much reading may have me adjust my timeline. I did record my previous course (roughly ~2hrs long) in one day, so I MIGHT have a chance of recording all the courses this month.
Let’s see how it goes!
(If you have any questions or problems related to my course topics you’d like me to cover, please let me know!)
Comments
+1 what Brandon said. Everyone’s crazy about Atomic Habits. Going counter to it might get attention, especially from those who find it didn’t work for them, who prefer intensity, who “hunt like a lion not graze like a cow”. Maybe.
I like the overthinkers part too. A productivity course for overthinkers could get eyeballs!
Thanks @therealbrandonwilson @jasonleow. I was going to offer an explanation here, but it turned out to be a long reply so I decided to make it today’s post!
Jason, thank you for the angle on targeting people who enjoy intensity (like my friend Ahmed Al-Rawi, who I did the podcast interview with on Clean Fuel vs Dirty Fuel). I definitely believe people should align with what feels comfortable to them, but I would caution people who desire intensity not to burn themselves out and to recognize if their approach is sustainable or not.
A point I want to add in the course is that habits, alone, don’t guarantee success. Sometimes we have to recognize a random opportunity and pounce at it (I did that when I saw an article in the news about a Kuwaiti newspaper setting up a tech fund and I pitched myself as a consultant, which got my company a nice chunk of cash 😄). There are lots of opportunities like that to keep an eye on.
My productivity course is probably geared most to overthinkers. 😍
@haideralmosawi Oh yes +100 re: habits don’t guarantee success. I used to think if I nail my productivity habits, success will come. I was sooo wrong haha.
Is there anything that guarantees success? I think we’re in the realm of probabilities, and good habits increase the chances of success. Guess what I think is the most important factor for success. MINDSET
@therealbrandonwilson I agree with the importance of mindset. But I think we sometimes need a tangible practice to be able to improve our mindset: journaling, affirmations, specific challenges, etc.
Of these three topics, the one I’m most interested in is your approach to habits since you declared your contrarianism. For people who are thinking about getting Atomic Habits or Tiny Habits, what would be your pitch why your course/method is superior?