The one season wonder
Developing your personal minimum value product
On December 1, 2012, Michu, a forward for Swansea City Football Club scored 2 goals to beat the english giants Arsenal.
These were 2 of his team-leading 22 goals that he scored that season that helped the small club from Wales win the English League Cup where along the way they also beat mighty Chelsea.
This incredible season from Michu led to interest from the best teams around Europe. Manchester United, Barcelona, Manchester City, were all rumoured to be interested in him. These rumours were dispelled by Michu, who instead stayed at Swansea for the following season.
Nearly 10 years later, it turns out that he was never able to live up to the lofty expectations set on himself by his achievements in the 2012 season. He suffered from injuries, poor performances, moving from small club to small club — and ended up retiring from professional football at the young age of 31.
He is undoubtedly a one season wonder.
Why should this matter to you?
Being a massive European Football fan, the interesting story of Michu is a tragic one. I was scrolling twitter the other day, and saw that tweet from @YousXP and for some reason it reminded me of Michu. Ultimately, his injuries had some impact on his poor post-2012 performances on the field, but he’s an example of someone was just occasionally great, a one season wonder…
I think this concept can be applied to our daily lives as well.
It’s so easy to set lofty and ambitious goals. It’s so easy to aim for the fences for each attempt you take. It’s so easy to aim to be the absolute best at everything you do.
But I think this level of ambition across too many items can be counterintuitive.
Your Minimum Value Day
A lot of you may have heard of something called a “Minimum Value Product”. A minimum value product is the earliest core version of a product that is usable by an end-user (customer). Now take this concept and apply it to your life.
Instead of trying to hit a home run on a daily basis and letting yourself down, focus on developing your minimum value day.
Your minimum value day consists of the systems that will push you down the path of improvement regardless of what else happens during your day. These are the non-negotiables that you can’t go one day without.
For me this consists of meditation each morning, some form of exercise and writing my affirmations. If I accomplish each of those things everyday, I know that regardless how each day went, I’m improving.
An Easy Way to Start
Create a basic night journal. I know that might sound like a joke but I’m serious.
Every evening write 5 sentences. 5 simple, actionable sentences on what you did today to improve on yourself — big or small.
These items can be as simple as:
I sent out 50 cold sales emails for my business
I read the Almanack of Naval Ravikant for 15 minutes
I cooked dinner instead of ordering in
I played the piano for 15 minutes
I took a 10 minute break in the afternoon when I was stressed with work
Do this everyday for at least one month and then review what you’ve written. If you’re realizing you’re on the path that you desire, then venture on — if not, re-evaluate your overall goals and determine how you can realistically fit them into your schedule.
If you need more tips on planning your days to fit these in, check out this link.
Now when you’re sleeping tonight, remember you don’t want to be a one season wonder…. consistency is king.
Amazing read Sul! Loved the football comparison!