5 Simple Wins in a Complicated World

We're living in a time of unprecedented change and chaos. Lives, workplaces, retail, politics, governments, everything has been turned upside down. And those are really big things. And when really big things are happening and a lot of change is occurring in our day-to-day life and in our cities and in our world, it can be really hard just to try and keep your own life, your own work, your own family on a steady plane. And so much of what happens on a day-to-day basis, if you watch the news or read it or you look on social media, so much of it feels out of your control and a lot of it is out of your control. And that can lead to a feeling of being really powerless in the face of something that has never happened before. So I've been thinking about a question. I've been thinking about an issue that we talk about a lot on this channel, but feels a little weird. Right now. And that question is, when something like this is happening, what does it mean to win? Like, what does it mean to succeed in a time like this? And is it even possible? Hi everyone, my name is Matt, and in this video I'm going to talk to you about 5 ways to win in a complicated, chaotic world. Because no matter what is going on outside of you, no matter what is going on in the world with your work, or sometimes even with your family, you can still control your mind, focus your attention, and direct your action to something that matters to you. And when we take a really big picture issue, if we narrow it down and we focus on the thing that we are able to control, you'll find that winning, succeeding, and actually feeling good is within your reach. Really excited to share these 5 things with you, so let's go ahead and get into it. Oh, that was bad. Shouldn't have done that. Sorry, microphone.

I want to thank the Full Focus Planner for sponsoring my YouTube channel this month. They are an incredible company with a mission to help you win at work and succeed in life. I've used it to help focus my attention and energy on the work that matters most, something that's even more important in chaotic times. A great way to plan your wins is by filling out the ideal week pages. This creates clarity for what matters to you and blocks off time each week for for your wins. I like going through the ideal week exercise every couple of months as life changes, as it often does. It's like a visualization exercise that raises my awareness of what I really need to do and making the time to do it. If you want to know more about the Full Focus Planner, just check out my link below and watch the complete review. Each week in May, I'll be giving away a Full Focus Planner. All you have to do to enter is comment with what your wins are going to be for this week. Now let's get back to the video.

The first win in a complicated world is to journal and plan about what you want to accomplish for the week ahead. Now this will come as no surprise to longtime viewers of this channel, but it is a really important piece of focusing on what you want to accomplish in a given day, in a given week, in a given month. Once you make that plan, even if you have to break something down to a really, really small action that you can take every single day to make progress,. It will give you that sense of fulfillment, accomplishment, and a big win for the day or the week. The second win in a complicated world is to learn something new. This could be something that helps further your career that you've been putting off because maybe you don't have enough time, or it could be something that you've just been wanting to learn. Like for example, I've been playing the guitar a little bit more, trying to pick that back up. So it doesn't even need to be a brand new thing. Could just be something that you used to do, ran out of time, got too busy, and now you may have a little bit more time to do it. Learning something new or picking up an old habit is something that is literally really good for your brain. Learning a new skill or picking up an old habit or hobby is something that helps build a growth mindset in you. Researcher Carol Dweck talked about this in her incredible TED Talk and book. I recommend you checking that out because it is something that will really help you see how learning something new can be an important part of being focused and getting a win in your day-to-day or week-to-week life. The third win in a complicated world is to build something or create something or put something together around the house. Any of those things where you can kind of start to literally create something out of nothing, or even if you're just putting things together, which I have done a lot of over the last several weeks, can give you a really good win and a sense of accomplishment. Because when it's done, you actually see the fruit of your labor. You see the trampoline that you put together or the, like, rock bed that you created. Just giving you some examples of things that I've put together, not necessarily built, but put together in the past several weeks. Could also be that you want to create something online. Maybe you've been putting off a blog, a YouTube channel, a podcast, any of those things. Once you see them coming together, can give you a really big win and sense of accomplishment. And no matter what's going on around you, those are things that most of the time you can still do. The fourth win in a complicated world is is to help another person. Now, this one can be an incredible win, not just for the other person, but can help you as well. When we give of ourselves, it creates like a really, like a very literal win-win because you're giving the benefit of your time, your money, your service to someone else in order to help them. There are lots of people that need help right now, and it may be leaving a little bit more of a tip for takeout if you're doing that. It might be knowing someone who, you know, is in poor health and can't really like maybe even go out and buy groceries, and maybe you could pick up some groceries for them. There are all kinds of things that we can do right now to help people, to support them, to support each other, and that can give obviously them a really big win. But I promise you, it'll do really good for you as well. The fifth win in a complicated world— and by no means is this an exhaustive list of all the ways that you can win even in really complicated, uncertain, and chaotic times. But the fifth win that I was thinking of is to teach everything that you know. In a time like this, teaching can be a way that combines all of these other four wins into one really big mega win for other people and for you. Because if you're going to teach something, you're going to need to journal about it, you're going to need to plan a little bit, you might need to learn a couple of new skills yourself, you're going to have to create the curriculum, might need to put it online, might print some things up, whatever you need to do there. And you're also going to be helping other people by teaching them the skills that you have accumulated, the skills that you have learned, the expert that you are in a specific topic. So think about how you can take the talent and expertise that you have in a certain topic and teach that to other people so that they can benefit as well. So to recap, here are those 5 wins that you can have in a complicated world. Number 1 is to journal and plan Get those thoughts, get those ideas, get those tasks out of your head and onto paper, into your bullet journal, into just like a simple Field Notes notebook, even into an app. I don't care, just get it out of your head and get to work on it. Number 2 is to learn something new. Pick up a new hobby, pick up an old hobby that you haven't worked on in a little while. Number 3 is to build or create something. Maybe it's putting stuff together around the house, work around in the yard, or that blog, podcast, or YouTube channel that you might have been putting off for a really long time. Number 4 is to help someone in need. There's a lot of people that need our help these days, and there can be all kinds of ways that you can provide that. But when you see an opportunity to help someone, make sure that you take it. It's going to benefit them, and also it's going to benefit you. Number 5 is to teach everything you know. I really love this one because it combines elements of the first 4 wins into one big mega win. So take the talent and expertise that you have on a specific topic and teach someone else that they can benefit from your knowledge as well. So with those 5 wins in mind, I'd love to hear what you can do today or this week to get a win for yourself. Make sure you let me know what your win is going to be in the comments below, and you'll also be entered to win a Full Focus Planner. I want to say thanks again to the Full Focus Planner team for sponsoring my YouTube channel this month. They've been an amazing partner. I've loved working with them.. And I know that a lot of you have been really excited to be a part of the giveaways and pick up a Full Focus Planner of your own. In fact, the Full Focus Planner was one of the inspirations for this video today, because their motto as a company is to win at work and succeed at life. And I was thinking about that and how even in a really complicated, chaotic world, we could still find those wins every single day, every single week. As you're adding your own comment and reading through others, make sure we cheer each other on. One of the things that I love about this community and this channel is the encouragement that we give to each other. And so this could be a really good way for you to get a win by helping someone, by encouraging them in the win that they want to have this week. Thank you so much for watching this video. If you haven't subscribed yet, make sure you click on my face right up here. And if you haven't seen my recent video on morning routines, start your day off right. Make sure you set up your day for success with a simple 3-step, 30-minute at most, morning routine. Probably not watching anymore because the average view time on my videos is like 3 or 4 minutes. So if you're watching, claps to you, and you can make a comment about this in the comments below. Wow, need to be done. Bye.