This Two Week Brain Fart Cost Me My #1 Goal [WRAP 192]

Hey Reader, as you read this I'm waking up the North Carolina mountains, next to a lake with coffee brewing and fall colors on full display. I hope you're having an equally good day, but I gotta say this is pretty awesome for me 🏕️

Here's what's up… I just finished a week of review, rest, and (outdoor) recreation. It's the "sabbatical week" in my new work cycle experiment—read more about it at the end of the email.

I did a pretty good job hitting most of my goals for the past six weeks. But I also had a two-week brain fart that completely derailed my #1 priority—and taught me something crucial about focus.

What Worked (And What Didn't)

When I review my cycle goals, the most important one was to complete the launch for my newsletter coaching program. The second was to publish three YouTube videos, and I published five!

I also had a goal to help a client launch a course, but that fell through. It was offset, however, by picking up another client who more than replaces that potential revenue, so that's good too.

But here's where the brain fart happened:

The newsletter coaching program was literally the #1 goal on my whiteboard. But I didn't fully execute the way I should have. I lost sight of the main purpose and didn't do as much outreach as I needed to. So that means it will be a smaller group than I planned.

Looking back, I can see exactly what happened. There were two weeks where I didn't write out my weekly plans as much as I normally do. Those were, unsurprisingly, the exact two weeks I did less for the program.

I also didn't leave enough margin for new opportunities. When a chance to work with a new client I was excited about came up, it took a full week of focus away from other things that weren't in my original work-cycle plan.

The Magic of Writing Things Down

Here's what really hit me during this review: Even though the newsletter coaching program was clearly the top priority in my mind, the two weeks I got sloppy with my written planning were the two weeks I made the least progress.

There's something almost magical about putting your priorities on paper. It forces you to face whether you actually did—or didn't do—what mattered most.

When goals stay in your head, it's easy to trick yourself. You write down a bunch of minor things, give them attention, and feel productive while passively avoiding the bigger things that can really lead to success and positive change.

But when you write down what truly matters? You can't hide from it.

Get my one page planner for free

I recently came up with a foldable one-page planner for each week of work. If you want something even simpler than a notebook for focusing on your goals, download for free here or click the button.

Download the Planner

If It's Truly Important, It Needs 100%

The other lesson from this cycle: if something deserves to be your top priority, it will require more focus and sustained effort than you think.

I'd say I gave the newsletter coaching program about 80% effort instead of 100%, mostly because I lost focus for a couple of weeks. That might not sound like a big difference, but it is.

When you don't see things through to the end with a clear set of tasks and milestones, it creates frustration—not only because you didn't get the result you wanted, but because you realize you didn't give it the effort it deserved.

What's Next

Here's what I'm taking into the next cycle (and what I'd encourage you to try):

Write down the things that are important for you to do every day.

Even if they seem obvious in your mind, putting them on paper changes everything. You have to face whether you did or didn't do them.

If something truly deserves to be a top priority, commit to seeing it through with the focus and sustained effort it deserves. Don't let yourself off the hook at 80% when 100% is what will actually move the needle.

The brutal simplicity of writing things down works.
The question is: will you do it?

Thanks for reading,

Matt "Maximum Effort" Ragland