Wake up early.

Around 5AM since I write better when it's dark, and nobody's up.

Laptop open right away, phone nowhere to be seen.

Client check-ins—all via email for better organization and communication quality.

Wi-Fi off right after.

A short piece of plain text content, based on that day's conversations with clients, or something going on in my life that could be helpful to you.

Shared as a newsletter email, Facebook post, or anywhere else the words matter most—no thumbnails, hooks, fancy editing, or trending audio.

Wi-Fi back off.

Work on that week's article, based on whatever topic requires more depth. Published on my site so people can benefit from it for years to come—not a measly 24 hours, like a social media post.

Apparently this is similar to Stephen King's workday:

• Up early
• No distractions
• Going to work on a keyboard—or in his case, apparently sometimes a pen (crazy)
• Very limited social media

What a dream.

Unfortunately, we don't live in a dream world where you can reach your goals by only doing stuff you want to do.

You need to do some of the other stuff, too.

In my case, spending time on my phone, social media, editing videos and podcasts, and doing things that aren't just clacking away at my keyboard.

In your case, with fat loss goals, you probably need to:

• Take full weekends off from drinking—or better yet, weeks at a time
• Be the ONLY person in your family or friend group not eating something. Like the apps at the table, or dessert after dinner
• Eat out less often. Possibly far less often
• Get absolutely everything you eat on a food scale—at least for a little while
• Eat foods you don't totally love, but are enormously beneficial for you (namely greens, and other fibrous carbs people don't prioritize enough because they don't taste like ice cream)
• Feel moderately hungry and... do nothing about it
• Prep food at the end of a long day when you'd rather do anything but

No hacks.

No workarounds.

Just doing stuff you don't want to do because there's no other path to reaching your goals.

Why am I telling you something so obvious?

Because I think we all need the reminder that, like I said, there isn't always a hack or workaround.

Oftentimes, the very thing standing between you and your goals is willingly doing something you don't want to do.

Repeatedly.

Okay, I'm off to film a dancing TikTok now.

Sam