#35: The Flywheel Effect
Hey friends,
I first heard the concept of The Flywheel Effect in Ali Abdaal's issue. Recently, it surfaced again in Yath Prem's issue, and I thought I should share. The main idea of The Flywheel Effect is that anything we do, any effort we put into our current venture or creative process is not a waste. After several attempts, it might feel like we're making no progress, but that's not the case. Each attempt we make brings us closer to our goal.
The metaphor of the flywheel is used to explain this concept better. Imagine your task is to get a flywheel rotating, the first, second, even the fifth time you turn the flywheel might not make it move very fast. But every push and rotation is building on the momentum of the previous push. If you keep pushing, at some point, you hit a breakthrough. The momentum kicks in, and the momentum itself will keep the flywheel moving.
When we make our first attempt, in my own case, one newsletter issue, we shouldn't expect great results at first. What we should do is to keep pushing and pushing, keep making more and more attempts. Each attempt is building on the previous attempt until we reach a breakthrough. From this breakthrough point onward, the momentum itself will allow us to achieve what seemed impossible at first.
A way to draw closer to the breakthrough point is by reviewing each attempt and see how we can improve the next attempt. In my own case, I can review each newsletter issue to see how I can make an improvement on the next issue. This way, I will get closer to the breakthrough point with each attempt.
Each attempt we make is not a waste. If we keep making more attempts patiently and consistently, we will get to the breakthrough point sooner or later.
Have a great week!
Daniel
My Favourite Things This Week
1 - Article - Deleting or taking a break from social media is one way to manage social media addiction but that might not be realistic for everyone. Another way is to find productive activities to do on social media. Yewande Oyeba in this Medium post shared some productive things to do to maximize the time spent on social media.
2 - Article - This article by Philip Bakare shares the importance of focusing on DAY ONE. The idea is If we focus on the beginning and keep working consistently, even though we might not have a good experience at the beginning, eventually the outcome of our hard work will pay off and replace these bad experiences.
Notes of the Week
My notes from Seth Godin's article.
Quote of the Week
Working on a problem reduces the fear of it. It’s hard to fear a problem when you are making progress on it—even if progress is imperfect and slow. Action relieves anxiety.
From 3-2-1 By James Clear.