021: The Thing: 1% Better Everyday

Howdy folks,

it's been a few months now since I came back to Asia. Now that I'm back to living and spending time in Bali I've had a chance to start creating, building and designing a life that I love to live every day.

it's been a while since I've had this much time and space to focus on myself but I have been enjoying figuring out what makes me, feel like the best me.

i've been thinking a bit this week about what I could share that might be helpful to someone else.

and this is where the idea about 'the thing' came about alongside the 1% better everyday idea.

so let's get into it, shall we?

enjoy me rambling? here's a video where i read this before our weekly live accountability session - chat starts at 6:50

What is the thing that you can do every day that brings you 1% closer to where you want to go in life?

do you know what your thing is?

what is that thing that is going to take you 1% closer to your life goals or dreams?

if you don’t know yet - that's okay, we'll talk a bit about how you can figure it out.

if you already have your thing.

then hopefully the following can give you some new ideas or a fresh enthusiasm for the idea around 1% everyday micro improvements.

so let's talk about the thing

there is a thing out there.

that if you did this consistently, it would move you 1% closer to where you would like to go

it doesn’t matter what your thing is

(and nobody can tell you what it is you should do or how you should do it)

but if done consistently, to the best of your abilities.

you believe that it can help improve your life

how to find your thing?

the thing is based on a desire or value you have in your life right now

these might change or evolve over time, so it is never a set thing

it is and can be anything and everything

but most importantly it’s your thing

you do for you and you do it in your own way

a desired value could be

health improvements, relationship building, family bonds, work progression or money goals etc

the thing for each of these would be different.

but the idea is that there is a thing that you could do.

every day that would bring you a little bit closer to your goals in an area

let’s choose money as an example

you would like £100 in your emergency fund

your thing that you do might be

• i will put aside at least £1 every day

it might feel small or silly but the idea is to take yourself 1% closer

1% of £100 = £1

the idea is that it is something you can commit to on a consistent and long-term basis

there might be times when you can give more.

• it’s your birthday 🥳 - happy birthday here's £20!

now you might decide to put £10 into your emergency fund.

this is a nice bonus.

but the idea is to pace it in a way that you can do it every day

rather than try to do more than you can handle (now i have to put in £10 every day)

here's why all of this is important

if you value a £100 emergency fund

there's probably a reason why you want it or haven’t got it yet

maybe the number is just too high.

or you set up big intentions that were just too much to handle

i will just cut down expenses, I will not eat out for a month and put all the money into the emergency fund, I want £100,000 in my savings account.

whatever it is.

it probably hasn’t worked out the way you wanted it

it’s great to have a big dream or desired value

but sometimes our attitudes towards our ambitions can bit too big, difficult or unrealistic

this can lead to the opposite of what we wanted

we just get bummed out if we didn't make any steps towards the thing

big dreams might bum you out

if every day you don’t move towards your dream

you might feel crappy about yourself and the situation

for example - you want to be a millionaire.

but you have no idea how to make that a reality

so you just play the lottery

but every time you don’t get that Powerball win

it disheartens you more and more

(what’s worse you can’t even control the outcome - difference between taking responsibility or not - but this is for another piece of writing)

but each day you, if you don't take a step towards your dream of being a millionaire

you start to lose sight or hope of your dream - and that's a bummer

why keeping it tiny helps

instead let's try and build a clear, easy path towards it

and maybe that starts with £1 put into an emergency fund

Instead of putting money into the lottery

you commit to putting in £1 a side everyday

this way you start to build up a positive relationship with your current situation

and this can be a gradual incremental thing that grows over time.

you're no longer that person who is worried and struggling about having an emergency fund.

because you've got £100 in a separate savings

okay sure, when you start and after a week £7 might not be that impressive

but it’s not about the number

it’s about the feeling that it will give you

you will feel that you are a person that is taking steps to the thing you desire and value

and the more you do this and get that feeling.

the better you will feel about yourself - 1% every day.

you start to build a habit

you will start to feel more positive about your life

you might even start to think of ways you can help yourself even more

after 1 month of £1 every day, you’re feeling pretty confident and easy about this.

you decide to increase that to £2

and before you know it you will get yourself to that £100 mark

Then congratulations 🥳

you made it happen just by committing to that 1% thing you do every day

what’s even better than £100?

now you’ve learned the feeling of what can happen whenever you commit to 1%

you will know for yourself that if I just do a little thing - every day

i can actually create positive changes in my life

you’ve got your £100 - do you want to go for £500?

or do you want to apply the same principle to another area of your life

1. i want to lose 5kg - walk 5000 steps daily
2. i want to write a book - write 100 words daily
3. i want to learn french - 1 minute of Duolingo

whatever the thing is and whatever you decide to do.

it doesn’t really matter

what matters is

1. you know what the thing is
2. you have a why you want that thing
3. you have how you can commit 1% you can do every day that moves you closer

example of around money

1. what = £100 emergency fund
2. why = Help with stress & fear around money
3. how = Save £1 every day

make it as small, silly and easily doable.

if you have a big fear or objection to the thing, you might want to make it even smaller than you are currently thinking.

like if the dream is to be a millionaire.

but if you don’t have savings or know where to start.

it might just be overwhelming and you wouldn’t even know where to start

it would be more helpful to just turn up and do the smallest 1% thing every day

just so you get used to the feeling

you start with an emergency fund, then a runway, then investments, then starting a side business, then read about sales for a month etc

here’s a super secret that not enough people talk about

sometimes, just sometimes

that thing that you’re dreaming of, is not actually the thing you really wanted

you wanted to be a millionaire

but when it came down to it - and you really asked yourself why

what you were really looking for was - it freedom, lifestyle, time, status, friends, life partner etc

if you commit to the journey, dig a bit deeper

maybe that thing that you want to feel - is a lot closer than you could imagine

and all you need to do is turn up

is just do the thing and move 1% closer every day

sometimes you'll learn more in the process of doing than you ever would just by dreaming

If you never get started you will never figure it out

have you figured out your thing?

no idea where to start?

let's end on some clear steps to help you think things through

1. figure out what your thing is. (can choose an area you feel weakest at)
2. decide on a why. it should feel personal, authentic and true (helps motivate)
3. the how . make it tiny (helps keep you consistent)

good luck but i'll be wishing you all the best ❤️

if you are still stuck & need help

i love this stuff and i feel like there are 2 things i care enough about that i can talk about it until my face is blue

1. selling things online
2. designing a life that you love

i even came up with a 1-liner that sums up what i care about

so i'm putting all my energy, time & resources into figuring out how to do these things

so far when it comes to lifestyle design

i have

1. FREE Start Designing Life Discord community. This is where you can be around other people who are committing to designing lives they love living. 1% daily. we have daily tasks, weekly challenges, and long-term quests. it's all designed around the idea of designing a life you love & having some support and accountability along the way so far we have 140 members
2. FREE Weekly Live Accountability. Every Monday i jump on a live stream. i do a little chat (pretty much the 1st draft of this newsletter). then we do a 35min pomodoro together. this is just a short bit of focus time where you can get 'your thing' in at the start of the week. it's pretty chill so grab a cuppa tea, there's music in the background & we can do a bit of collective accountability

this week i'm building

3. FREE Life Design Quiz/Assessment Scorecard

this will help you identify where your strengths & weaknesses are.

the idea is that you'll be able to answer a series of questions and at the end you will get your own custom report with an overview of your life

example. 3/10 in health but 10/10 in work. just having a score and reference will allow you to know where you can best focus your time and attention.

it's also a helpful bookmark for yourself to track your progress and journey

your life score in January 2024 was 54/100 but then you take it again in December 2024 and it is 72/100.

this is how you are able to clearly track and measure your own progress.

i'm really hoping this will be super useful for people

just have the small task of building it first lol (it's okay i've build a similar quiz for metalabs but for online sales potential scorecard)

but i'll start tomorrow and plan to livestream me building it for fun too

so if you are curious about building things online then feel free to check it out. i will stick it up on youtube but maybe some of the other socials too.

Why am I doing this?

this has been something that's been playing on my mind a lot.

what's the point of me sharing all of this stuff or doing things for free

i decided the best thing to do was to have an open letter of transparency

you can read my why here

but it all boils down to having my big thing & my big why

the big thing

the big why is because i believe..

that's pretty much it, go check out the other write-up if you're interested to learn more about the 'why'

and why i think i can make a living doing what i love while helping as many people as i can along the way. (the 99% free idea)

but that's it for this week

as always, thank you for reading if you’ve got this far.

i hope you got some little nuggets of ideas that you can take away with you

feel free to share 'your thing' or your 1% every day - i would love to cheer you on

have a great week

Matt

🫶

As always let me share some dope things that have been happening the past week

1. NSDR (Non Sleep Deep Rest)

i don't know about you, but my head sometimes just can't stop.

i'm always looking for ways in which i can help myself chillout and switch off - but like in a real healthy way.

came across the term NSDR not so long ago and it got me intrigued

basically it's how can you rest - but not actually sleep

as much as doom scrolling on the phone might seem a relaxing activity it still is stimulating the brain

so what other options are there? i've talked a lot about meditation and it's still something i love to do.

but another method that i've done and have been testing out a bit more is breathwork.

before that woo-woo 🚨 goes off in your head (or maybe not?)

breathwork is just a fancy name for breathing in a certain way

there's a tonne of research, science and data out there in how it can help

even the marines use this technique to help calm their nerves

so woo-woo aside the NSDR part is just if you breath a certain way for a bit it can help you rest

sounds pretty cool right?

i downloaded a new app Respira which has a few guided breathing sessions

i've mostly used it to help me calm down the body & mind at night then drift off asleep

it's worth a try if you have an active brain that doesn't switch off easily - that apps free

let me know if you give it go and if it was helpful

2.  sharing business sales publically

so i shared the real numbers of 1 of the online businesses i run on X

i'll be honest it still feels uncomfortable but i am happy that i did it.

why? i just want to be as open and as transparent as possible.

it helps me feel like i am being genuine, authentic and truthful online

no matter if you meet me in person, online, family, friend, stranger or my partner my goal is to turn up exactly who i am no matter who or what

a big part of me being able to confidently talk about online sales and lifestyle design

is directly related to my confidence to be able to stand by it

i won't talk about things i am clueless about & i'll happily point you to someone if i think i might know

i'm not a guru, not a life coach, not a multi-millionaire, not a "insert whatever big title".

i'm just me, Matt Lok here's what i do and what i care about.

i'm just here living my life to the best of my abilities.

i sell things online & i like to design a life that i love to live

and i'd love to help more people be able to do the same

because

happy people = happy people

2.  finished an ancient Egypt epic

i love ancient civilisations - does that make me a massive nerd?

anyway I've listening to this audiobook before going to sleep for months.

there is something about a lecturer going through the entire history of ancient Egypt that really put me to sleep.

but i finished it finally after months - but i loved it.

if you're a geek for Egyptians like me it could be a nice little listen for you too

i'm pretty sure it's included as part of the audible subscription if you have it already

so you can save you credits and indulge in some sweet sweet stories pharaohs, mummies &  pyramids.

The History of Ancient Egypt

alright i'll wrap things up there this feels like a big enough already!

wishing you a great week ahead. next week is Christmas?? can you believe it? are you feeling Christmassy yet?

let's chat soon

Matt

🫶

P.s  let's end on some funnies here's Michael McIntyre talking about Christmas dinner 😅 - stay awesome my guys