This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Today is a momentous day. The date is February the 8th of 2021. That's the day this episode's going out. But more important than the date, today is episode 1500 of Sinus Hill School. So let me just say first and foremost, thank you so much.
Thank you for listening today. Thank you for any other days that you have listened, which may mean 1,499. It might mean zero. It might mean somewhere in between those two numbers. Whatever it is, I'm so grateful for you.
I want to do something a little bit different today. Speaking of momentous days, it comes on the heels of about five weeks ago, where we turned the corner into 2021 after a year that was certainly eventful, we could say. I think whether you had an amazing year or a terrible year in 2020, you could say, well, it was certainly a year I'm not going to forget anytime soon. I also made most of the notes for today's episodes a few weeks in advance on Inauguration Day, which I guess was what, January 20th, a third momentous occasion, right? So we had January 1, new year, 2021, starting over Inauguration Day.
Only happens every four years, particularly momentous this year for all sorts of reasons. So in some ways you could say, well, today is a momentous day just like all the others. Momentous days are just coming up all the time now. But of course, days like this, days that matter, they consist of what you make of them. You can make any day special.
You can make any day important. Where are you listening to this right now? Like what's going on in your world right now? Is it just an average day? Are you kind of going about your routine?
Are you listening to this in some situation that's different than normal? You know, whatever it is. Today, as I said, I want to do something a little bit different in less than 10 minutes because we like to keep everything really on point here. I respect your time. I want to give you three practical steps you can put to use to make the rest of the year even more momentous.
Even more momentous than January 1, Inauguration Day, your 1500th podcast episode day, or your birthday, or any other day. Now I also realized as I was making notes here, I've never actually told you why I make this show. I mean, in some ways I tell you every day, in some ways I'm like, "Hey, I'm Chris Guillebeau, you know, this is Side Hustle School. It's all about empowerment. It's all about helping you create a new source of income." All that is true, but there's one other reason that I don't think I've ever mentioned.
So I'll tell you what it is. Along with those three things, there's three practical steps you can take right after this quick break. Thank you, sponsor. Thank you listeners. Stay tuned.
[Music]
All right, three things you can do to help make the rest of your year even more momentous than January 1, your birthday, episode 1500 of Side Hustle School, or anything else. Number one, let go of other people's expectations. Let go of other people's expectations. Listen, whether they are well-meaning or otherwise, all kinds of people most likely have all kinds of plans for you. They have ideas for you.
They have assumptions. They have expectations again. And most of the time you don't have to conform to that. Like that's what my entire career is about from the art of nonconformity onwards. Side Hustle School is really just one extension of that.
But again, let go of other people's expectations wherever possible. Maybe you think, oh, that's not a simple thing, but honestly, the more you can do it, the better you will feel. Number two, let go of previous mistakes and failures. Let's also just say, not necessarily mistakes or failures, but things that didn't quite work, which might not always be a mistake or a failure. Let go of it.
Ignore sunk costs, right? You've already spent that money. You've already spent that time, whatever it was. You know, I do this myself all the time. I'm always looking back.
I'm like, oh, I wish I had done that differently. Well, I didn't, you know? So here I am, for whatever reason, maybe I didn't know, you know, to do something different at the time. Here I am. All you can do is be responsible for what's in front of you right now.
So let go of those mistakes, those failures, those things that didn't happen the way that you hope they would at the time. And number three, apply a small amount of self-pressure. I just want to explain this because it's also good to let go of guilt. I don't want you to beat yourself up all the time. But if you want to change something in your life, then it probably means you'll have to change at least one pattern or habit.
And I don't know about you, but for me, I've always found patterns and habits are hard to change. Like they are deeply ingrained, but it is possible. Like we know this too, like they are deeply ingrained, but yet it is also possible. We see people who change their habits. They've been doing something for a long time, but yet they're able to make a change.
So apply a small amount of self-pressure. The pressure really can be good for you. I read a study recently about the power of negative thinking, which is essentially like, you know, negative thinking is actually more powerful than positive thinking because people who have negative thoughts, you know, while they're trying to lose weight, for example, this was a whole research study, you know, at the end of the time period, whatever was being tracked, they were actually much more successful because when they made different decisions, whether it was nutrition or exercise, something else, they considered what their future self would want. And I thought about how their future self would feel. And I thought, well, I'm going to feel pretty bad if I don't make the decisions that I need to make now so that my future self feels better.
So once more, number one, let go of other people's expectations. Number two, let go of those things in the past, whatever they were. And number three, apply a small amount of self-pressure. Oh, and why do I make the show every day? Good question.
Well, it really is because I like these stories. It really is all the things that I've said before about, you know, helping you make money and that's opportunity and so on. But ultimately, I think it's like the deeper reason is because I know that a lot of people are discontented. Like a lot of people out there want more out of life. They are dissatisfied.
And this is a path to changing that. Like it's not the meaning of life, you know, to make an extra 500 or $1,000 a month, or even if it's a large amount of money, that's not the meaning of life. But maybe this will help you find the meaning of life. Maybe it will at least make your life better, which is ultimately the goal. And, you know, I believe that the examples I bring you are obtainable, they're relatable.
That's why I try to feature so many different people from different walks of life and different situations. Some of them having a huge success. Some of them having a small yet significant success. A lot of them having missteps along the way, but ultimately, you know, achieving the goal or maybe even surpassing the goal. So before I wrap up for today, I just wanna encourage you to keep going.
If you have struggled, if something hasn't worked, if you've been frustrated, if I have annoyed you somewhere along the way, I'm sorry about that, please keep going. By please keep going, I mean, please keep trying different things. It's not always the same thing. Try a different approach. You know, I'm gonna be here at least until the end of the year, which is, I forgot what episode number it will be, 1800 and something, you know, we'll see after that, but I will make at least that commitment.
So I hope you'll continue to be part of this community, but even more important than that, I hope you'll do something to take action. Like I would love to hear at the end of the year, hey, something clicked at some point. I just kept trying things. I just kept listening and considering different ideas. I finally found my idea.
Like that is ultimately the reason I make this show because I want to hear reports like that. So I will conclude today and not go on too long because again, I respect your time. Got a great story coming up tomorrow for episode 1,501. And of course, much more to come after that. Lots of different tips, other stories, questions and answers, and so much more.
I really do believe the best is yet to come. Thank you again. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the Onward Project.
