The #1 Skill That Took My Income To 6-Figures In My 20s

[Jo_t95]

I used to be a ninja at seeking opportunities.

Opportunities that promised huge returns for little work and usually ends up being some mlm gimmick or 'get rich quick' scheme.

But it wasn't saying 'yes' to everything that came my way, but saying 'no' to the juciest of opportunities that led me to earning a 6-figure income by 26.

What's more, it didn't take me soul-crushing amounts of work to get there.

Nor did it take me dragging my feet to an office job I hate in an industry like 'tech' or 'software'.

I barely even know how to code, and I barely graduated from college!

The #1 skill I honed to get me earning double or triple peers my age was the ability to say 'no'.

Learn it and I promise your life will go from feeling overwhelmed by all the opportunities out there screaming for your attention...

...to feeling self-assured and at ease that whatever you're doing right now is the best thing you could be doing to increase your income and live the life of your dreams.

Let me explain.

What's on your to-do list right now? What does your daily schedule look like?

Go through every item on your list list asking this one simple question- "After getting this thing done, will I be further along the way of achieving a higher income?"

If the answer is 'no', strike it off - and no turning back.

Once you do this one simple exercise, you'll see your list of items shortened to a tidy sum.

The rest of your day, dedicate everything you have to completing those tasks and those tasks alone.

Once they're completed and you realise there's still time left in the day, go ahead and do whatever other things you had originally planned to do.

Now, what this one simple exercise will do, apart from helping you feel less overwhelmed and burnt out from your daily to-do list, is help keep you laser focused on the key activities that will help you move the needle towards a better life.

The sooner you learn this 1 skill, the faster you'll be optimising your activities and making the most out of your time.

And it doesn't take being a rocket scientist to know that the more effective work you get done in a shorter period of time, the faster you will reap your harvest - in this case being hitting your income goal.

When your peers start hounding you to reveal how you get so much done in so little time without being spread thin like they are, just smile and tell them you simply learnt to say 'no' well.

 

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[N.S.]

I used to be a ninja at seeking opportunities.

Opportunities that promised huge returns for little work and usually ends up being some mlm gimmick or 'get rich quick' scheme.

But it wasn't saying 'yes' to everything that came my way, but saying 'no' to the juciest of opportunities that led me to earning a 6-figure income by 26.

What's more, it didn't take me soul-crushing amounts of work to get there.

Nor did it take me dragging my feet to an office job I hate in an industry like 'tech' or 'software'.

I barely even know how to code, and I barely graduated from college!

The #1 skill I honed to get me earning double or triple peers my age was the ability to say 'no'.

Learn it and I promise your life will go from feeling overwhelmed by all the opportunities out there screaming for your attention...

...to feeling self-assured and at ease that whatever you're doing right now is the best thing you could be doing to increase your income and live the life of your dreams.

Let me explain.

What's on your to-do list right now? What does your daily schedule look like?

Go through every item on your list list asking this one simple question- "After getting this thing done, will I be further along the way of achieving a higher income?"

If the answer is 'no', strike it off - and no turning back.

Once you do this one simple exercise, you'll see your list of items shortened to a tidy sum.

The rest of your day, dedicate everything you have to completing those tasks and those tasks alone.

Once they're completed and you realise there's still time left in the day, go ahead and do whatever other things you had originally planned to do.

Now, what this one simple exercise will do, apart from helping you feel less overwhelmed and burnt out from your daily to-do list, is help keep you laser focused on the key activities that will help you move the needle towards a better life.

The sooner you learn this 1 skill, the faster you'll be optimising your activities and making the most out of your time.

And it doesn't take being a rocket scientist to know that the more effective work you get done in a shorter period of time, the faster you will reap your harvest - in this case being hitting your income goal.

When your peers start hounding you to reveal how you get so much done in so little time without being spread thin like they are, just smile and tell them you simply learnt to say 'no' well.

Great share, thank you. I love little hacks / checks like this that help to keep me focused on actually moving the needle.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Thanks for the share, couldn't agree more.

The problem is, a lot of saying "NO" has nothing to do with "tasks" but with allocation of time. Wasting time on video games, social media, sleeping, there are also other things that need a "NO".

Go through every item on your list list asking this one simple question- "After getting this thing done, will I be further along the way of achieving a higher income?"

If the answer is 'no', strike it off - and no turning back.

But what if everything on your list DOES further your goals? And "no!" is no longer an option?

Saying "NO" is great. But some of us learned to say "NO" a long time ago, and are stuck with high-level tasks that move the meter.

I've been saying "NO" to nearly every podcast invite in the last 2 years as they've become so ubiquitious that I don't find they are worth my time. I even decline paid speaking opps as the marginal money earned from them do not justify the disruption in my life. And since "Become a highly paid speaker" is NOT one of my goals, I find them easy to decline.

 

[Jo_t95]

Hey MJ, firstly thank you so much to take the time to respond to my post. I never imagined having the maestro himself leaving me a response!

a lot of saying "NO" has nothing to do with "tasks" but with allocation of time

With regards to your point here, I couldn't agree more. Instead of it being a matter of saying "NO" to "tasks", perhaps it has more to do with clarity on what counts as the "proper use of time" as compared to what isn't. And that has very much more to do with the clarity of one's goals and how urgent it is to actually achieve those goals.

For example, someone claiming they want to launch a successful business to earn lots of money but doesn't have a proper deadline with real consequences is probably going to find it hard to leave their game console in exchange for doing difficult work. As compared to someone else who has to launch a business to earn enough money to afford their daughter's eye treatment before she turns 4 so she doesn't go blind. The importance of proper allocation of time towards an outcome in both cases is going to be drastically different.

some of us learned to say "NO" a long time ago, and are stuck with high-level tasks that move the meter

And since "Become a highly paid speaker" is NOT one of my goals, I find them easy to decline

You're right again MJ, and this has helped refined my thoughts as well. Learning to say "NO" is something more for those starting out who are yet able to discern high-level tasks. Overarchingly, getting clear on one's goals will make saying "NO" to the wrong things easy - as you've shown by declining to participate in paid speaking gigs.

 

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[Felix Nachem]

Couldn't agree more! Thanks for sharing.

Just remembered me when I've read "The ONE Thing", because there is something similar with the way you go from a To-Do list, to a success list(saying no).

 

[Pranav_Banerjee]

Go through every item on your list list asking this one simple question- "After getting this thing done, will I be further along the way of achieving a higher income?"

What do you mean by this? For example, I know that learning to write software is not going to make me money. WRITING software and SELLING it will. So am I supposed to remove learning from my list? Will be helpful if you elaborate a bit.

 

[Panos Daras]

Always apply the Pareto Principle first (80/20 rule)!! There are two skills that you need to have as starting points. Critical thinking and English. The rest is figureoutable.

 

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[Jo_t95]

What do you mean by this? For example, I know that learning to write software is not going to make me money. WRITING software and SELLING it will. So am I supposed to remove learning from my list? Will be helpful if you elaborate a bit.

If you do know that eventually selling software will earn you money and that you first must learn to write it, then yes, perhaps having a task of 'learn how to write software' does count since you will indeed be further along the way of achieving a higher income.

The thing is, after you decide to carry out 'learn to write software' task, there can be a million other things distracting you from getting the bread. Like, trying to learn too many languages at once. Or not know which language will earn you the most bucks.

Also on the other hand, given that the selling of software is what earns you money, why not find willing buyers, then outsource the actual coding to someone else on fiverr or upwork? Or why not try to get AI to code it out for you? My point is that there are many ways to skin a cat, and you have to evaluate which path forward and task to take on will give you most bang for your buck - then go with it and ruthlessly say 'no' to everything else.

 

[sanas915]

thank you for the post!!! saying no safe a lot of time and effort like the pareto role 80%20%