Episode 156: Turn One Simple Idea Into Big Results with Megan Porta

Eat blog talkers!! How are you? It’s so hard to believe we’re nearing the end of 2020. Some days it feels like this year has lasted a decade and other days I feel like I’m still stuck in March. At any rate, we ARE nearing the end of this year and, I don’t know about you, but I’ve been thinking forward to 2021 with hope and a touch of excitement. I know that not everything is going to magically go back to normal when the new year comes, but the idea of healing and growing beyond this year IS exciting.

In today’s episode I’m going to talk about the very simple yet powerful idea of taking a simple idea and taking it seriously in order to achieve success.

First, though, if you would head over to itunes to subscribe, rate and review EBT I’d be so grateful. It literally takes 2 minutes to do this.. Those 2 minutes of your time are SO appreciated.. And they also add value to EBT, so thank you.. I’m really so grateful for every single person who takes the time to do this.

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Onto today’s topic and allow me to preface how I decided to focus on this topic. If you follow Eat Blog Talk on Instagram you know that I’m a huge fan of James Clear, who is the author of best-selling book Atomic Habits. I LOVE this book and I also love all of James’ weekly emails, as they are packed with inspiration and gems that speak to me every single time. Every time I see his weekly email pop up in my inbox I push everything aside mentally and read through it and thoroughly absorb every word. When I read something that strikes me, I write it down for later pondering. Super nerdy, I know, but it lights me up and inspires me to constantly improve.

All of that to say that I wrote down a quote from one of James’ recent emails. The quote comes from Charlie Munger, who is Warren Buffet’s right hand man. Charlie Munger said, “Take a simple idea and take it seriously.” I have always been a fan of simplicity. Simple things can be the BEST things. In our overly complicated world we can so easily forget this! It is so easy to fall into the trap of thinking that complexity is best and that it will bring us happiness and success, when the opposite is so often true.

I’ve been mulling this quote from Mr. Munger over for weeks, thinking about different ways to take a really simple idea and turn it into a profound success merely by TAKING IT SERIOUSLY. The “simplicity” portion of this quote is important, but the MOST important piece is the part where we place importance on taking that simple idea really seriously. NO idea (whether simple or complex) is going to go anywhere if it’s not taken seriously.

So the equation looks like this: Find something you are going to take REALLY seriously + simplify it + take it seriously for a period of time = reap a huge payout.

Step 1: Find something you are going to take really seriously (something you are passionate about and that also has payout potential).

Step 2: Simplify.

Step 3: Set a period of time when you will follow through consistently.

Step 4: Reap a huge reward!

I get so excited about the idea of implementing a tiny idea repeatedly over time to achieve great results. Something that takes up 20 or 10 or 5 minutes or ONE minute of your day, when done consistently over time can yield really big things. It doesn’t always have to be a sprint! There is great power in the long game, the slow game, the steady game, the marathon.

• 10 minutes of ab exercises/day every day for a year results in a killer core.
• Going to bed 20 minutes early for six months gives you SIXTY EXTRA HOURS of sleep.
• 15 minutes spent each day on updating old blog content will bring you a very long way in just a few months’ time.
• Eliminating 1 soda from your day for 6 months will impact your health, your weight and your quality of sleep.
• Writing in a journal 10 minutes daily will bring great clarity and will sharpen your writing skills.
• Reading 20 minutes of a business book daily will quickly bring great insights into your own business.
• Spending 5 minutes/day to reach out to someone you love will greatly improve your relationships.
• Just 10 minutes/day spent inside the social media platform of your choice will help you understand it better and gain traction more quickly.
• 10 minutes/day spent commenting on other people’s Instagram posts will send the message to Instagram that you are an engaged and committed user.
• 5 minutes of quiet mindfulness to start your day, when done consistently over time, will bring you peace and clarity.
• A brisk 10-minute walk daily when done over the course of 3 months equals about 30 miles of walking.
• 10 minutes of daily planning over the course of 3 months equals 14 hours of planning. This will bring massive amounts of clarity into your business.

Find That Thing

You need to find something that stirs up passion and excitement inside you AND that has payout potential. Start by thinking about an end goal. Do you get pumped when thinking about feeling healthier by summer? If so, incorporate bite-sized bits of exercise or nutrition into your days. OR remove things from your life that will make an impact. A few years ago this EXACT scenario crept up on me. I had let my nutrition and exercise slide and I was feeling uncomfortable about the way my clothes were fitting and the way I was feeling. The idea of feeling more healthy by summer was an alluring idea. I had like six months till summer, so I committed to 2 very simple things: 1. I’d cut out all “extras” from my diet (no cheese on salads, no second helpings at meals, etc) and 2. Whenever presented with an option to move my body vs. NOT move my body, I committed to always choosing the movement option (walking through the airport instead of standing on the moving walkway, opening a door using my arms vs walking through automatic doors, etc). None of these things put me out AT ALL, but when added up over a 6-month period of time my goal was more than accomplished.

Or maybe you have just REALLY been wanting to clean up your blog and haven’t known where to begin. Uhh, this is ME! I’m currently in this very situation, so going into 2021 I am committing to a minimum of 15 minutes of blog cleanup daily. To be continued on the results, but I’m sure they’ll be fruitful.

Maybe you really want to start working with brands you see other bloggers working with on Instagram but you need to boost your followers and engagement first. Commit to spending time every single day (it doesn’t have to be much) inside the platform.

Make sure the thing that lights you up is something that will have a big impact in your life in some way because otherwise you are not going to be emotionally tied to it and you’ll be unlikely to follow through. If you aren’t sure about whether or not it will, do a short test run. If you think daily journal writing will make you a better blog writer, which will enhance and add value to your blog posts, commit to writing daily for a month and see what transpires. You don’t need to make a 6- or 12-month commitment right off the bat. Start with your simple idea and a doable timeframe.

Simplify

Now you have that thing you want to accomplish or that way you want to feel or whatever it might be. How do you find a simplified step that will help you achieve your end result? Think really simply with this. I so often tend to over-complicate things and aim too high, which can easily result in burnout, which leads to quitting and disappointment and a cycle of bad feelings. Pull things back to a point that is as simple as you can find. You can always build up stamina over time, so starting really simply ensures that you always have room to grow. 

I love this story James Clear tells in his book Atomic Habits. He talks about a man who wants to start going to the gym. He suuuuper simplifies this goal by first committing to just DRIVING to the gym. He literally just drives to the gym every day for a number of days or weeks in a row and sits in his car in the parking lot for a few minutes. Then he decides that since he’s there, maybe he’ll try walking into the gym. He does this for a while and then figures, “While I’m in here, I may as well work out for 5 minutes.” So he does that for a period of time, until he increases his time exercising, and so on..

Don’t be afraid to simplify your goal almost to a ridiculous level. Let’s say you want to start cleaning up your mess of a blog (not that your blog is a mess.. MY blog is a mess..) but the idea of spending even 15 minutes/day on this stresses you out. In that case, maybe you could commit to just opening one old blog post that needs help every single day and changing one tiny thing, and republishing. Get yourself into the habit of just opening an old post with the intention of improving it before you move onto 5 minutes of cleanup, then more and so on..

Commit to a Timeframe

Once you have landed on a goal and a simplified idea that you will commit to, you need to determine a length of time to follow through with! 

I always tend to shoot long with my goals because the longer you work on something the greater the results will be. And I always love a good challenge. But sometimes it’s more manageable when the timeframe is shorter. Land on a timeframe that doesn’t stress you out before you even get started. Lean on your intuition for this. The main goal is that you want to keep up with whatever you’re starting, so create a timeline for yourself that will support that.

Follow Through! 

Taking your simple ideas seriously is KEY to coming out on the other side with a big win. It doesn’t matter how simple your goal is or how simple your daily or weekly idea is. If you aren’t committed, you’re not going to get where you want to go.

Successful people, the people who achieve BIG things, whatever that means for each of them, are the ones who are disciplined. They are committed to their goals. If you don’t take your goals and your small ideas seriously and commit to following through, you don’t have the right to wonder or complain about why you aren’t finding success. And starting with a really simple idea like what we are talking about here is a really great way to ensure that you won’t give up.

Remember that you are a food blogger. Food bloggers are TOUGH. Food bloggers are so resilient and they stand back up, lashing after lashing. If you have goals that you really want to accomplish? Whether they’re blogging-related or not? You already have the tenacity to get those things accomplished. 

We are about to start a new year, so this is the perfect time to give this concept some thought and implement a really small idea in your life to accomplish something BIG. 

I want to hear what simple idea you are committing to, so please email me and share! I can’t wait to hear!

Thanks for listening, food bloggers, I’ll see you next time!

156: Turn a Simple Idea Into Big Results with Megan Porta

The idea of implementing one tiny idea repeatedly over time to achieve great results can have a positive impact on your food blogging game (as well as your personal life!). Something that takes up 20, 10 or even 5 minutes of your day, when done consistently over time, can yield massive results. Success doesn’t require that we sprint all the time! 

1. Determine a goal you are going to take really seriously (something you are passionate about and that also has payout potential).

2. Simplify an idea for achieving your goal.

3. Set a period of time when you will follow through with the idea CONSISTENTLY.

4. Reap the reward!