Every Idea Is Great. Not Every Idea Produces Great Outcomes.

Read time: 8 minutes

Hey, welcome back.

Last week, I talked about what have you actually accomplish on the 3rd week of January, not in a gooroo type of way, but in an actual, honest-to-yourself kind of way. You can read that (and all past issues, here).

Before you read on:
If you’re serious about making 2026 one of the best years of your life, I’ve put together a short exercise that helps you reflect on where you’ve been, clarify what actually matters next, and set a calm, grounded direction for the year ahead.

It’s not motivational fluff, just a quiet, structured way to think clearly.

You can download it here → Your Best Year Ever Guide

This took me an embarrassingly long time to learn:

Every idea is great.
But not every idea gives great outcomes.

Most people treat ideas like they’re equal. They’re not.

Some ideas quietly change your life with very little effort.
Others demand everything from you and give almost nothing back.

The tragedy is that most people consistently choose the second type.

The Two Axes No One Teaches You to Look At

Every idea lives somewhere on two axes:

How hard is this to execute?
How much upside does it realistically have?

That creates four categories, but two matter most:

• low effort, high return
• high effort, low return

The first changes lives.
The second traps people for years.

And guess which one most people gravitate toward.

Why High-Effort, Low-Return Ideas Feel So Right

High-effort ideas feel meaningful.

They make you feel serious.
Committed.
Virtuous.

When I was younger, I fell for these constantly.

I’d choose the idea that sounded impressive instead of the one that worked.

I’d build things that were complex, fragile, and hard to explain.
Long timelines. Lots of dependencies. Very little leverage.

And when progress was slow, I never questioned the idea.
I just assumed I wasn’t working hard enough.

That’s the trap.

High-effort ideas come with built-in moral cover:
“This is meant to be hard.”

So you keep going.
For months.
For years.

Busy. Exhausted. Not much to show for it.

The Ideas That Actually Worked Felt Almost Too Easy

Here’s the uncomfortable truth from my own life.

The things that moved the needle most:
• sending a single honest email
• starting something before it felt ready
• saying no to one draining commitment
• doubling down on something already working instead of chasing novelty

None of those felt impressive at the time.

In fact, some of them felt lazy compared to the “big” ideas I was avoiding.

But they worked.

Because they reduced friction instead of increasing it.

Why Low-Effort, High-Return Ideas Get Ignored

This pattern shows up everywhere.

Careers
People spend years collecting credentials instead of doing one project that proves competence.

Health
They plan total transformations instead of fixing sleep, walking daily, or eating consistently.

Relationships
They imagine different dynamics instead of addressing one unspoken truth.

Life
They wait for clarity instead of adjusting what’s obviously draining them.

Same mistake. Different context.

Choosing effort over leverage.

Why 99% of People Fall for the Wrong Bet

Because effort feels controllable.

If something isn’t working, you can always say:

“I’ll just try harder.”

Leverage forces honesty.

It asks:
Is this actually the right move?
Or am I hiding inside difficulty?

That’s a much harder question to face.

So people stay in motion instead.

The Question That Changes Everything

Whenever I’m stuck now, I ask myself one question:

What’s the smallest action that would create the biggest shift?

Not the most ambitious action.
Not the most painful one.

The smallest one with asymmetric upside.

The answer is often obvious.
And often uncomfortable.

How to Apply This Without Turning Your Life Into a Spreadsheet

This isn’t about min-maxing every decision.

It’s about noticing patterns.

Look at what you’re currently pursuing and ask:
How much effort does this require, day to day?
And what’s the realistic upside if it works?

Then ask:
What am I dismissing because it feels too simple?

That second list usually holds the leverage.

The 90-Day Experiment

Here’s a simple way to test this.

For the next 90 days:
• stop choosing ideas because they sound impressive
• stop confusing struggle with progress
• stop adding complexity to feel productive

Instead:
• choose actions you can execute immediately
• prioritise moves with clear upside
• reduce friction before increasing effort

Don’t announce it.
Don’t dramatise it.

Just quietly make better bets.

If you do that, your life will look different in three months.
Not because you worked harder.
But because you stopped wasting energy on bad ideas.

Final Thought

Great outcomes rarely come from heroic effort.

They come from:
boring actions,
done consistently,
with leverage baked in.

Choose ideas that respect your time.
Choose actions that move reality, not just your self-image.

That’s not playing small.

That’s finally playing smart.

To better bets and calmer progress,
Dan

P.S. Something I Built to Help You With This

Over the years, I’ve used the same reflection and planning process to reset my direction, personally and professionally.

It’s not motivational fluff.
It’s structured, honest, and grounding.

So I’ve turned it into a short guided exercise you can complete in one focused sitting.

It helps you:

Reflect on the last 10 years, 5 years, and the past 12 months
See what’s been draining you versus what’s energised you
Get clear on what actually matters next
Set a direction for the year ahead
And create a simple mantra you can live by

If you want to give 2026 a real foundation, you can download the guide here → Your Best Year Planning Guide

And if you want the Word doc of the guide, you can get it here → Word doc of Best Year Ever Guide

(No pressure. Just a tool, use it if it feels right.)

All in Podcast from Davos

Great summary on future tech

Listen Here

Bill Bryson

The Bible (IDK I am still reading last week’s awesome book by Bill Bryson so I got nothing for you today 🙂

Read Here

Yuval Noah Harari and Max Tegmark

Talking about AI at Davos

Watch Here

A 2020 study published in Emotion found that people who learned to accept their “non-ideal emotional states”, including low motivation, low energy, and neutral days, experienced significantly higher overall well-being and lower stress.

The key insight: self-acceptance amplifies emotional resilience, while self-judgment weakens it.

📌 Quick Takeaway →

Your average days aren’t failures; they’re emotional training grounds.
When you stop punishing yourself for being human, everything in your life compounds faster.

→ Link to study

In my goal to help more entrepreneurs/people who are looking to level up their careers, I've just started taking 1-1 consulting calls (only 1 a week)

Why book a call? Some of my expertise/success:

I've built 5 startups. 1 win, 1 fail, and 3 still going.
E-Commerce: Heights - with revenue over £20M a year.
Community: Foundrs, one of the UK's top founder communities
Podcasting: Leaders Media - I bootstrapped a media company that made the UK's top business podcasts including Secret Leaders, with over 50M downloads across the network.
Health/Mental Health: Overcame burnout, insomnia, depression & anxiety in pursuit of success. Hear me on Steven Bartlett's on Diary of a CEO
Angel Investing: I've invested in over 100 startups
Coached & Mentored: Certified coach & 5* mentor on Mentorpass
Personal Brand: Over 400,000 followers across social

So if you're interested in booking a session with me to talk all things business or building a personal brand, book for 30-minutes or 45-minutes. (limited spots).

Book a Call with Dan