The less you do, the more you achieve.
Original Publication Date: December 18, 2024
Edited for Readability: February 1, 2026
The past few weeks, I've been out and about, confronting the overwhelming reality of the holiday crowd...and my inner thoughts.
Fascinatingly, despite having less time, I feel like I was more productive in those past few weeks. Even when now, I have full reign over my schedule.
And maybe this is the perfect time to talk about Parkinson's Law.
Parkinson's Law is the idea that work expands to fill the time allotted for its completion.
But this year has been about translating all the theory I've been building up over 2023 into practice so I won't bore you with the theory. I've failed a lot in the process, too. And, now I'm carrying those lessons to 2025 when things can finally build up to a successful outcome.
Here are the big insights I've learned over the year of non-stop execution:
The less you do, the more you earn.
When I talk about less, I talk about less variety - not so much less work.
I used to do a lot of things. I had a lot of small businesses that I hope would just one day boom out of nowhere. But, that was a fever dream. While some of them did catch revenue early on, the maintenance became something I couldn't keep up with.
I had close to ten side hustles. I niched down for each of them and built this grand focus so that they would be targeted and would reach the right audience properly. But, I failed to account for how much energy I can actually allocate to these small projects. Some of them were passion projects that I just hoped would be profitable enough. Some of them actual business ideas that I was interested in.
Eventually, I narrowed down to the two things I can monetize and practice: Notion and writing.
Currently, I'm a Notion Featured Creator and have a shop hosting pre-made digital products that I use in real life. I've been trying to branch out to custom templates, but it's always a conversation of schedule suitability.
Alongside that, I'm also a freelance writer primarily on LinkedIn.
Instead of feeling so scattered, what I like to do now is to dedicate at least three months to each project. My fun practice behind this is having one main quest for every 12-week period. I - of course - track this via Notion.
Achieving success is an inside job.
Whenever I see someone younger and more successful than I am, I always ask. "What is it about me that's stopping me from having that success?"
This leads me to a laundry list of things I can improve on and change about myself. This helped me reframe a lot of regressive thoughts I've adopted in my more formative years. This also helped me work up from where I'm from, instead of shooting for the stars and falling on my feet.
Sometimes, I look at my resume and think about how my most impressive feats were made in times when I felt the most miserable. It made me realize about how the numbers aren't the achievement someone should aim for. At least not in its singularity. Rather, it's the balance of the things that matter.
Your likability is directly correlated to your earning potential.
Everyone I know who earns a good living...is likable.
Charismatic. Pleasant Personality. Any identifier that alludes to likability.
And this isn't just in this digital space that I navigate now. I also notice this in my previous work as an investments professional. The people at the top aren't the best at their field, per se, but they are often great communicators.
I don't think that's a coincidence. Rather, it's a consequence of how we're wired to evaluate each other. We do business with people we like. We buy from people we like. We support - people we like.
I guess if there's a career advice I would give to anyone - it's to be likable.
Most things in life are games of longevity.
I've been in the digital space for almost three years now.
What I've learned is that many people come and go, not just in the web, but also in real life. In careers, relationships, projects, business ventures. The people who truly find success in any field are the people who are hardened enough to stick with one thing over an extended amount of time.
In investments, the long-term investors (at least a 5-year investment period) are often winners. The game of telephone is for the short-term traders. If your investment goes beyond 5 years, it’s almost a guarantee that you will yield a profit.
This is a fact that’s familiar with me because that was one of our marketing touchpoints in portfolio management. Additionally, there is also literature on how investments that aren't adjusted/rebalanced as frequently generally perform than those that are.
You rarely rise to the level of your aspirations, you often fall to the level of your environment.
I'm saving this for last because this is possibly my biggest realization of all.
I moved out of my family home (again lol) after staying there for some time to just recuperate. It's not normal in my country to move out before getting married so this was how things usually are.
The more I stayed at home, however, the less things I accomplished - or felt like accomplishing. I was too comfortable, to happy to be nestled in this cocoon of familiarity that stayed static for far too long.
I will forever be grateful for having more time with my family in this transition period. But, I feel like we would all be much happier if I pursued something that filled my soul than my comfort.
I had a conversation with my friend about this recently. How sometimes, we lose the motivation to be better because we don't have the intrinsic motivation. Sometimes, we're too comfortable where we are that we don't bother to think about what's next
In 2025, I want to spend most of the year out of the country - not quite emigrating or being a frequent vacationer. But, more of constantly shifting the environment to have that motivation that comes with adapting to new places.
Maybe, I'd even figure out where I would settle eventually.