You know those moments when a thing you’ve been doing but haven’t named is suddenly defined for you?

I had one of those today.

Courtesy of my good, great friend and SNAP Copy business partner, Lianna Patch.

Lianna forwarded me the latest edition of Oliver Burkeman’s newsletter, The Imperfectionist. She was sure I’d feel validated by the piece.

And she was right. I did (and do).

(Thanks, Lianna! 🙂

The piece is about fitting rules to your life – and not the other way around. A very powerful thing to notice and do.

But the thing that really resonated is what Oliver calls a “no-later-than” time.

It’s so how I live my life. And I join him in recommending it to you.

Instead of saying you’ll start a thing at 9, say you’ll start it no later than 11.

You can still aim for 9 (or earlier). But you’ve left room for all the unknown variables that life will throw your way. Your only commitment is to your no-later-than time of 11.

In fact, you’re reading an example of this right now.

I don’t say I’ll send an email at 7 am every day. I say I’ll send an email today. And, as Jonathan Stark says, if I haven’t gone to bed, it’s still today.

The trick is to set goals that are comfortably attainable within the context of your life.

You’ll like your life better and probably get more done.

Confidently,
James