Harsh Truth: Ideas are cheap, execution is expensive.

It's easy to talk about making improvement, building new habits, and driving growth, but it's hard to do.

We've all been there: We read a self-improvement book or article, take notes of the great ideas, nod our heads, and then proceed to act on none of them.

Why? Because complexity gets in the way.

Most of the new ideas we come across sound intriguingly complex. Intelligent people are naturally drawn to these sexy, complex answers and solutions. They pique our curiosity.

The problem: If it's complex, we never act. We love to talk about it, but we'll never do anything about it.

If you've been reading my work for a while, you know that I'm a big proponent of the simple, boring basics. I don't have any e-books to sell you with my fancy journaling tools, brain hacking tricks, or life-altering networked note-taking neural nets. I just want to see you make progress. I just want to be a tiny part of creating a positive chain reaction in your life.

In that vein, I'd like to share my favorite—very simple, very boring, and very effective—strategy for making dramatic progress in any arena...

The 30-for-30 Approach

I call it my 30-for-30 Approach:

• 30 minutes per day
• 30 straight days

It's that simple.

In any arena in which you want to make progress, do the thing for 30 minutes per day for 30 straight days.

Have a new business idea but frustrated by your lack of progress? Work on it for 30 minutes per day for 30 straight days.

Want to make cardiovascular health a priority but don't know where to start? Walk on an incline treadmill for 30 minutes per day for 30 straight days.

Trying to build a personal brand but unable to build momentum? Write or create content for 30 minutes per day for 30 straight days.

Want to learn a new language for that trip next year? Study for 30 minutes per day for 30 straight days.

The general mechanics are simple:

• Choose Your Arena: This can be any new skill or habit, or an existing area of competency you're looking to improve.
• Commit: Commit to focused effort in that arena for 30 minutes per day for 30 consecutive days.
• Create Accountability: Pair up with a friend or group to hold each other accountable to the daily goal. I call these positive pressure loops. Create a text group and send "done" each day that you complete it. It makes it more costly to skip.
• Track: Track your daily execution with a calendar or simple system.

30-for-30 creates a marathon of short, manageable sprints.

Intensity + Consistency = Progress

Why My 30-for-30 Approach Works

The 30-for-30 Approach is effective for three key reasons:

#1: Low Intimidation

30 minutes is a small enough daily commitment that it removes any upfront intimidation and allows you to mentally take it on.

Anyone can find 30 minutes in their day to focus on something they care about making progress on:

• First thing in the morning
• During your lunch break
• At the end of the work day
• Before going to bed

Pre-start self-intimidation is one of the biggest causes of stagnation. When something feels too complex or daunting, we don’t start. Most new habit and improvement initiatives feel that way.

When you’re staring at a cold lake, jumping in is the hardest part—once you’re in it, it’s not so bad!

The daily 30 minute goal breaks the intimidation down into something simple, reasonable, and manageable.

Just punch the clock for 30 minutes today. That’s all you need to focus on.

#2: Meaningful Commitment

While the intimidation of 30 minutes per day is low, the commitment of 30 days is meaningful.

This is a feature: You have to be physically and mentally bought in. If you’re half-in, you won’t want to take it on and commit to the full scope 30 days.

It’s a "commitment razor" that ensures you care about the arena in which you are going to attempt to make progress.

#3: Effective Compounding

30 days of 30 minutes per day is 900 total minutes of accumulated effort.

900 minutes of focused effort will have surprisingly significant results. There’s nothing in the world that you won’t improve at if you spend 900 minutes of focused, dedicated effort on it.

A few examples:

• 900 minutes of work on your side hustle passion project will create meaningful forward progress.
• 900 minutes of cardio puts you in much better shape.
• 900 minutes of writing makes you a dramatically better writer.
• 900 minutes of reading can cover several classic books and many articles.
• 900 minutes of journaling or meditation can build towards a clear mind.

Remember: Giant leaps forward are simply the macro output of tens, hundreds, or thousands of tiny daily steps.

Small things become big things.

Who Will You Be In 30 Days?

The 30-for-30 Approach is a simple strategy that can create dramatic change in your life.

If you're frustrated by your lack of progress on that side hustle, passion project, health goals, or anything else, consider giving it a shot.

You'll be blown away by the progress you can create in 30 days of 30 minutes of focused, daily effort.

You can literally become a different person.

So, who will you be in 30 days?