If you don’t know who Jim Harmer is, you’re losing out. Here’s a sample of his personality:
He’s hilarious in real life and it fully translates to his book “Work Energy” (not an affiliate link, though I’m starting to wonder why I don’t do that yet…). He apparently took years to write it. And it shows, in a good way. It was so engaging and hilarious, and made me rethink the rest of my life going forward. Yeah. That big.
Major takeaways below, but first:
The Funnies
During a marathon:
“I must point out what running does to the mind—you talk to yourself as if you’re another person and have arguments with yourself. It isn’t right, and neither are those shorts. I stopped at aid stations and sprayed this really awesome stuff on my thighs that felt cold and made them go numb. No idea what that magic potion was, but all the serious marathon runners seemed to use it a lot, so I indulged. Side note: do not spray said magic potion on your tongue out of curiosity. It will make it numb. Lesson learned.”
pg. 83
After marathon:
“Yet the only way to describe the feeling of crossing that finish line with Emily was euphoria—more than just relief that we could stop running. It was euphoric. I laid down on the grass in the park at the finish line and committed to simply lying there on that spot permanently. I still had a few months until winter, and I was sure I could order food from there.”
pg. 85
major takeaways
Groundhog It
Figure out what gets you 90% of your results (i.e., what actions give you the fastest results, or gets you to your goal faster), and design the perfect day that incorporates those actions and groundhog it. Repeat it until you reach your goal.
I usually avoid monotony, but don’t know why…when he explained it, it sounded exciting & comforting at the same time. Exciting because it would get me working toward my goal at the best pace possible and comforting because it would be set in stone. I wouldn’t have to worry about what to do each day or week or month.
But I would say, set a limit for how long you do it for when you’re starting a new venture. Choose a reasonable time limit for your particular project. Maybe 30 days and reflect on your results. In the blogging world, 30 days is not enough time to see results (usually requires 6 months for Google to rank you), but if you’re able to detect even a slight trend upward, it should give you an indication of how far you can go or how you might need to adjust. Though I would set a content goal. 30 posts, cover the major points. Then step back and regroup. But big thing: don’t optimize. Focus on the actions that give you the best results.
Don’t Optimize
He goes into nuances about it of course. Optimize once you hit the 90% but don’t sacrifice continuing with the 90% actions for the sake of 10% optimizations. But this is helpful for people like me who might want to tweak the little things that don’t matter right now and won’t get you the big results you want. For example, in blogging, I want to change my strategy to focus on getting out posts right up until October. November will be looping back to do optimizations (creating pins, adding additional graphics, adding more freebies, fixing up SEO, etc…unless I am inspired to do them fast in the moment of, if so, why not ride that wave?). December will be wrapping up the year, round up entries, taking stats, & preparing for January goals.
A Passive Income Idea I Forgot About
Buying websites. Yes, some are expensive. But if you want to start building passive income and you’re a nerd, buying a website that already has established traffic and some monthly income could help you. You would have the skills to amp it up and possibly increase that cash flow.
Other Random Key Points
From his book and his other videos
- He would work on a post every day. In 60 days, he was able to publish 35 posts. A better strategy he figured out later on: write shorter posts on more niche topics that has low competition to get you ranked faster and higher on Google searches.
- Based on their course (or possibly their Youtube videos): you’re still going to have to write those basic posts that everyone writes about in your niche. This is to help establish your domain authority.
- Write quick, easy response posts
- Write big pillar posts that would be evergreen content.
- One from the video shared above @ around 17:00 — create content as you learn it. Kind of in line with “Show Your Work” by Austen Kleon. Again, not an affiliate (but damn, why not? I gotta get on that one day).
What goal are you trying to reach? List the one major action step that will help you get 90% of the results at the fastest rate possible. How and when can you incorporate that action step into your day? Now groundhog it. Stop when you reach 90%. Then think about optimization.
Green Where You Water It 
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