What else can you do?
We often underestimate how many actions we can take to move closer to our goal. “The 100 things” hack helps break this limitation. The idea is simple, whenever you list down things you can do, ask yourself what else can you do if nothing from the list works out. The actions at the start are simple, practical steps that are commonly known but as you move ahead you’ll be able to discover more creative solutions that will work better for you.
Goal - Get better at gym Steps
- Go to gym 5 times a week
- Eat protein
- Don’t eat junk food
- Sleep 8 hours
The time you hit the 10th or 15th item, you start thinking out of the box 10. Ask a friend to train together 11. Hire a trainer … 15. Buy the subscription of a fitness app
The aim of this exercise is to write everything you can think of, and then let your brain get new thoughts.
This skill comes to a lot of use at work. For example, we are facing a bandwidth problem in taking up new projects. The obvious solutions are -
- Post a job and hire for internship or full-time
- Re-arrange tasks based on priority to free up bandwidth
Going further 7. Ask a friend to help? 8. Pose it as an assignment for hiring? 9. Contact another agency for partnership or outsourcing? 10. Offer project-based contracts?
In startups, there's rarely a fixed roadmap for success. Whether you're trying to hire, or go-to-market, or land new projects, it's the creative, non-standard methods that will often lead to differentiation. Creativity in constraints.