Stop solving problems you don't have

When I started my first job in 2021, it was a remote position because of COVID.

I spent my free time exploring side hustles, and stumbled across Ali Abdaal on YouTube.

A majority of his content is focused on being more productive.

Up until that point, I hadn't felt like I needed to be more productive.

Fast forward 2 weeks later, and I was watching every video I could on productivity.

I tried every tool, app and system.

I was reinventing my workflow weekly, and was drowning in new apps.

This toxic trend continued for the better part of a 2 years.

It was a costly mistake (both $$ and time)

But it taught me a valuable lesson: solve the problems you have, not someone else's.

I didn't have a productivity problem, but all the YouTube content I consumed led to believe I did.

In our digital age, I have seen this happening more often.

People happy with their jobs thinking they need to do drop shipping.

People happy with their mindset thinking they need to meditate, cold plunge and read 3 hours.

People happy with their routine thinking they need to wake up at 5 am, run 5 miles and drink 78 gallons

It took me 2 years to figure out I didn't have a productivity problem, I had a filtering problem.

I was allowing social media content to determine what actions I took on a daily basis.

I allowed YouTube videos to convince me I had a problem that was non-existent

Attention Economy

We live in a time of constant attention pulls.

Creators, advertisers, friends, family, platforms, bosses-- are all pulling at our attention.

Some profit off our attention, others genuinely want to help us.

The problem is we have a finite amount of attention to give, and it has only become harder to manage it.

It's such a large problem that companies like Apple had to build "Focus Modes" to aid us in managing our attention.

Think about that for a moment, we live in a world where the technology that creates the distraction, is also the one providing the solution.

I believe the most effective way to manage our focus is through mental filtering. (with the help of focus modes 😉)

Simply put, mental filtering is the process of filtering out the information we need or want, from information that isn't moving us toward a desired outcome.

It takes time to train your brain to do this, but it can change your life when you do. I know it changed mine.

There's 3 steps to create your own mental filter:

1. Get clear on your goals

2. Filter information based on those goals

3. Identify if you have the problem in the first place

This is what it looks like in action:

Goal: I want to create my own income sources

Incoming information: "how to monetize a following of 5k"

Problem: I am currently facing: I don't have a social media following

Result: Bookmark for later, or ignore

My current problem in that scenario is social media growth.

Even though monetizing my audience will eventually be a problem I need to solve, it's not the problem I am facing right now.

So I can bookmark it for later, or ignore for now.

Why?

Because the more focused I am on solving my current problem, the faster I will get to the next phase-- which in this case is monetization.

Think about how much more effective you would be if you only consumed the information you needed right now to accomplish your most immediate goal?

This is not the same as being narrowed minded.

This is being laser focused on the first domino, so we can knock the next one down faster.

PS:Reply to this email with what your biggest struggle is right now. Let’s solve it together. 🙂 

PSS: I am starting my journey into YouTube. It would mean the world if you gave me a subscribe:

Happy filtering

Talk soon,

Matt