This “lazy” entrepreneur relies on systems — not willpower
Let me introduce you to Shaan and Sam.
They’re American entrepreneurs who’ve made millions of dollars from online businesses.
In 2019, Shaan sold his startup to Twitch, whilst Hubspot acquired Sam’s newsletter business for multiple eight figures.
In this podcast, they talk about goals and how they hit them. Sam’s approach isn’t surprising. However, Shaan’s methods are a little unorthodox.
As a self-confessed “lazy person”, Shaan doesn’t rely on willpower to hit his goals. Instead, he’s put systems in place.
You can think of them as tricks.
After applying Shann’s “tricks” last year, I quit my 9–5 and now work as a freelance writer.
Let’s break the tricks down.
Trick #1: Use Vision Boards
I was laughing so hard when I heard this back-and-forth:
Shaan: “I’m more motivated by a movie scene in my head than by text that requires my brain to do work…”
Sam: “So a vision board?”
Shaan: “Ahh yeah — I guess I just described a vision board.”
Sam: “Pinterest! Yeah, great idea!”
The point is vision boards go straight for the feelings.
With financial goals, rather than figuring out how much money you need, you can get a picture of the thing you want. The assumptions that come from this picture then remove decisions.
For example, if you’ve got a huge house on that vision board, you probably need a sh*t load of money.
I used Milanote to create a vision board for my desktop background. I put it up about 18 months ago, and on it, there are people who inspire me, as well as rooms in my dream house.
I see this vision board every time I switch on my laptop.
And the last 18 months have been my best yet — both personally and professionally:
- I make $5,000+ per month from freelance writing
- I met my girlfriend through Medium
- I’ve sold hundreds of online courses
It could be a coincidence, but I’m willing to believe my vision board has helped.
Trick #2: Floor and Ceiling Goals
Rather than having just one goal, Shaan says we should set a range.
Here’s how he explains it:
“The floor goal I set for any project is the minimum it would take for this to feel like a win…
“(Before,) I would hit a goal and beat myself up. ‘I’m not ambitious enough. I need to set more audacious goals.’ Inevitably, I would underdeliver on that…
“Now, I have a minimum goal and a backup goal.
“The ceiling goal is my ‘F-Yeah!’ What would make me say ‘F-Yeah, that really worked out!?’”
The floor method is how Shaan got his podcast — My First Million — off the ground.
He used it as an opportunity to meet “cool people”:
“Let’s say I do one of these a week, 52 guests (a year), and half of them are cool. Then let’s say half of those cool people become friends…
“I’ll make 12–15 new friends who are heavy-hitters enough that I can invite them onto the podcast…
“That alone is a win!”
His “ceiling” goal took this further:
“Well, what happens if people actually listen to this?
“Wouldn’t it be sweet if people listen to us on their commute and we build an audience of people who know, like, and trust us?
“That would be amazing!”
This is how I thought about my first live webinar.
Only one person showed up, and I was hugely disappointed, but it was still a win.
The webinar gave me the opportunity to:
- Practice
- Make mistakes — I didn’t share the correct screen for the first 10 minutes!
- Write about the experience — I shared this post on LinkedIn, and it resonated with my followers
Trick #3: Set Anti-Goals
It’s easy to set a goal and fall into its trap.
For example, you might set the goal of becoming a lawyer who makes $1,000s a month.
Sounds great, right?
But if you hit this goal, you may travel the world and never see your kids grow up.
Most lawyers probably don’t say to themselves, “I don’t want to see my family”, but it could come as a by-product of trying to hit their goal.
“So now, I set up specific anti-goals…
“Yeah, I want to do this podcast, but I don’t want it to feel like a bunch of work every week. I’m not trying to make this my job. I want this to be a fun hobby, right?
“All of a sudden, I’m drowning in work trying to edit this thing and upload the thumbnail and write the shownotes and do all that stuff.
“That would be an anti-goal: the after-recording stuff taking five hours a week…
“By identifying the anti-goal up front, you can make a game plan that solves it.”
— Shaan Puri
I did a similar thing for my podcast. After producing the first 12 episodes, I realised it was sucking my time.
I needed help.
So I jumped on YouTube, learned how to outsource, and hired an assistant. She lives on the other side of the world and easily saves me 10+ hours a week when I’m recording new episodes.
Trick #4: In Your Face Daily
Most people write goals when inspired, but they don’t put systems in place to make them happen.
“My big thing is I need to see it daily…
“I’ll set this up in Slack and use the remind function. I’ll (write something like) ‘Remind me that my goal this week is to add this many subscribers…’
“I’ll set that reminder so that it pops up every single day.”
— Shaan Puri
I’m more oldschool than Shaan.
I’ve written my 12-month goals on a whiteboard that sits at the end of my bed. My goals are also displayed on my Momentum dashboard.
Trick #5: Tip of the Tongue Test
According to Shaan, if your goal isn’t at the tip of your tongue, it’s not clear enough.
“Also, give it a time box. Do you have ten years or one year to do this? That’s a critical element to a goal.
“It should be pass-fail. It should be easy to figure out if it happened or not…
“If you don’t have a time box, you can’t every judge it.”
Before launching his latest business, Sam used accountability to remember his goal.
It was always on his Twitter bio:
Trick #6: Don’t Move Unless You Believe It’s Going to Happen
Most people doubt themselves.
They don’t believe they’ll hit their ambitious goals.
If someone says their goal is X, and you ask, “What do you think the chances are that that’s going to happen?” They’ll say, “Well, it’s quite hard…”
They lack confidence.
“I don’t let myself move unless I actually believe it’s going to happen…
“If I really believe this person’s going to say yes and buy my product, I’ll pick up the phone immediately and call them. It’s only when I don’t believe they’ll buy my product that I’m like, ‘Well, I’ll call them after I’ve finished this PowerPoint deck…
“It’s your belief that drives the level of action you take. Massive belief equals massive action. Massive action equals a good result, and a good result reinforces the belief…
“Timid action brings sh*tty results…”
— Shann Puri
“Timid action brings sh*tty results…”
I like Derek Sivers’s approach to making decisions.
If it’s not “Hell yes!”, it’s no.
Trick #7: Baby Goals or Giggle Steps
Shaan tells the story of how a woman he met criticised James Clear’s best-selling book, Atomic Habits.
“She was like, ‘Hey, you know that book Atomic Habits by James Clear? It’s okay, but it’s missing the most important thing…’”
Shaan laughed.
Atomic Habits has sold millions of copies across the world.
How could it be missing something?
“‘He got it kinda right with the first step, but even this is too hard.
“‘If you want to set a habit to floss your teeth, you actually want to start with something so simple, it would make you giggle…
“‘So all you’d do if you wanted to floss your teeth every day is put one piece of floss in your bathroom next to your sink and just floss a single tooth… And then put it down and walk away…
“‘It takes away a lot of the fear…
During the pandemic, I wanted to exercise in the gym, but the only time I could go without it being super busy was early in the morning.
5:30 am.
Getting up this early without some sort of system just wasn’t going to happen, so I decided to use giggle steps (without knowing this is what they’re called):
- Week 1: Go to bed at 9pm and wake up at 5am
- Week 2 (Mon-Wed): Go to bed at 9pm and get out of bed at 5am
- Week 2 (Thurs-Sat): Get out of bed and drive to the gym
- Week 3 (Mon-Wed): Use the treadmill for five minutes
- Week 3 (Thurs-Sat): Use the treadmill for ten minutes
- Week 4: Use the treadmill for 15 minutes and use one of the weight machines
This slow build got the ball rolling.
Key Takeaways
When you want to do something, it’s best to learn from those who’ve already done it.
That’s why I love My First Million.
Here’s a summary of the seven goal-setting tricks Shaan lays out:
- Trick #1: Use vision boards — Cut the decisions. Go straight for the feelings.
- Trick #2: Floor and ceiling goals — A range of goals leads to more satisfying outcomes.
- Trick #3: Set anti-goals — Sometimes, we’re so obsessed with hitting the goals that we forget the negative stuff. Account for this.
- Trick #4: In your face daily — Don’t just set a goal and forget it. Look at it every day. Whiteboards around your home are great for this.
- Trick #5: Tip of the tongue test — If your goal isn’t on the tip of your tongue, it’s not clear enough.
- Trick #6: Don’t move unless you believe it’s going to happen — Belief drives action. Set yourself up for success by only starting projects you 100% believe will happen.
- Trick #7: Baby goals or giggle steps — Make the first step ridiculously easy. So easy, in fact, that you laugh out loud.