The Every Day Rule is how I run my life for better results.
I’ve always been fascinated by personal development. I know the self-help industry is a can of worms, but the idea that we can aspire to better ourselves is beautiful.
One day, not long ago, I found a simple concept that now runs how I live my life. I call this approach the Every Day Rule.
Here we go:
A New Approach to Goal-Setting
I’m growing less and less interested in fighting the comings and goings of tides.
The change in perspective came about as I was thinking about achievements. I felt that there was a downside to setting goals. A goal can quickly morph into an authoritative presence in life.
As an intrinsically curious and motivated person, I don’t appreciate “yesterday’s me” telling “today’s me” what to do. It causes me to backfire and rebel against myself.
I reasoned that the perfect goal provided the sense of being on the right trajectory here and now — without over-emphasising the importance of reaching the destination as soon as possible.
Another way to put it:
The importance of a goal is not its result but how it impacts me today. According to this reasoning, I now set goals to give meaning and purpose to my present, not my future.
Allow me to elaborate further.
Because I’ve given this some thought.
The Every Day Rule
Let’s say that I want to write a book. It’s a non-trivial goal and a substantial undertaking. Publishing a book would undoubtedly increase your life event density and count toward an Epic Year.
But, If I were to write every other day, I would soon write every third day, then every fourth day. And so on.
Soon enough, I wouldn’t write regularly, but the goal would still lurk in a dark corner of my brain. The idea of writing a book would make me feel lousy.
A goal set to propel me forward is instead setting me back.
This is not a good strategy, right?
So, for me, it’s every day — or nothing.
Why does this approach work so well for me?
If I write daily, being a writer becomes a part of how I identify myself, like a psychological master override.
The basic rule of behavioural psychology is that you get more of what you reinforce.
Writing daily makes me a writer.
A writer writes daily.
From Long-Term Goals to Daily Efforts
Based on the Every Day Rule, I now only set goals that can be broken down into daily efforts.
For example:
| Long-Term Goal | Daily Effort |
|---|---|
| Improve health. | Always wear a watch, but never wear the same watch two days in a row. |
| Eat better food. | Cook homemade dinner every day at restaurant-level quality. |
| Launch online course. | One session of scripting, filming or editing every evening. |
| Be more grateful. | Tell my wife and son I love them twice daily (morning and evening). |
| Teach my son to read and write well. | Read and discuss books every night before bedtime. |
| Become a better photographer. | Either shoot or edit a new photo daily (or learn something from a tutorial). |
| Explore watches as a hobby. | Always wear a watch but never wear the same watch two days in a row. |
| Be more structured. | Update Notion (“Second Brain”) when having coffee in the morning. |
There’s Only One Day — Today
The Every Day Rule has an exciting constraint: time in a day.
By prioritising daily activities instead of goals, I’ve created more focus and achieved more significant results in less time.
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Annotations
| 1 | An interesting parallel is James Clear’s approach to habits (described in his best-selling book Atomic Habits), focusing on small but frequent incremental improvements to reach significant goals through compounding effects. |
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