How to stop overthinking and start getting shit done

You have big dreams

You have ambitious goals

When you envision yourself achieving them, you get pulled back into reality.

Your mind fills with negative thoughts, doubts, and excuses that make your dream seem unattainable.

(Don’t worry, it’s completely normal)

This is one of our primal instincts that evolved to protect us from being preyed upon by predators during our hunter-gatherer past

Times have changed, and we’ve risen to the top of the food chain.

This instinct has become somewhat useless

And this is the reason why you shouldn’t listen to yourself.

When you think about a slightly difficult goal, your brain starts coming up with reasons and excuses to not chase after this goal.

You make up reasons to avoid dealing with the discomfort of working toward this challenging goal.

You brush it off and move on with your life

You settle with a mediocre one.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Today, I want to show you my 5-step framework that helped me overcome excuses, and changed my life forever.

This was framework had helped me got out of poverty, from making around ~$10/hour waiting tables to landing a remote 6 fig. job

I have also found success in other aspects of life by using this exact framework (relationships, health and fitness, personal finance and investing)

So no matter what goals you have, you’re gonna want to note this down.

1. The goal

Just a few years ago, I was making around ~$10/hour waiting tables. Living paycheck to paycheck, no money in my savings. I had just enough to cover rent and survive on ramen noodles. I prayed every day for my car to start and run, so I can make it to work. One unexpected event and I would be screwed.

I hated living like that, I wanted to change. I wanted to get a higher paying job, so I went online, researched my options, and landed on the decision of learning how to code.

My goal: Learn how to code and get a dev job.

2. The excuses

But before I decided to learn how to code, my mind was fogged with excuses and limiting beliefs:

• Zero experience

• No computer science degree

• I don’t have time, I’m too busy with work

• I have no connection

• I’m terrible at interviews

3. Challenge the excuses

As you can see, some of the excuses are valid, and some are just plain dumb.

The excuse of “I don’t have time” was just me being lazy. In fact, I did have free time, back then I had a lot of free time watching people’s Snapchat.

And for the zero experience & no computer science degree, I’ve seen multiple people online who were able to get a dev job without any of those 2 things (It’s possible!)

Having connections help, but not having it is fine, you just gotta hustle extra (so this excuse is invalid)

I’m terrible at interviews, in fact most people are too. But it’s a skill and can be learned.

After addressing the validity of every single excuse, I realized most of them are just me avoiding the effort required to achieve my goal.

4. The small actions

I started putting in small effort each day, by sitting down for an hour a day and figure out everything I need to know about coding.

As I get more interested in learning it, I didn’t even have to force myself to sit down for 4 to 5 hours per day. It became effortless once I get the ball rolling.

Once I got a hold of the basics, I started building small apps to crystallized what I just learned, and also to showcase my skill.

A few months in and I was already sending out resumes.

I started with sending 3 a day. And slowly increase up to 10 per day.

5. Celebrate the small wins

Throughout my journey, I always keep a record of my achievements—completing an online course, finish building a small app, getting an interview email after applying to the job listing, etc.

Even though those weren’t my actual goals, I know that each of them will bring me closer to my end goal.

I looked at it as a game, and every small win is just me passing through each level.

This was how I stayed motivated throughout the entire journey.

And that was the framework with my real life story as an example.

Here’s the actual framework for you to screenshot:

The Framework

1. Set clear Goals: Define your goals and be specific about what you want to achieve.

2. Identify Excuses: Write down all the excuses that your mind is telling you.

3. Challenge Excuses: Question the validity of these excuses

4. Take Small Actions: Break your goals into smaller, manageable steps and start taking action—small ones.

5. Track Your progress: Keep track of your achievement, celebrate the small wins. This is crucial to stay motivated and build momentum.

And that’s everything you need to know.

By following this framework, it will help you stay focused on your goals and reduce the tendency to make excuses.

Let’s go after that dream!!!

See ya next week.

Justin “used to wait tables” Nguyen

p.s: If you find this newsletter valuable, don’t forget to share it with your friends, colleagues, or loved ones. My goal is to help as many people as possible in achieving the lives they desire.