Answer the phone.

Reply to the email.

Follow up with the guy you met last week.

Go to the meeting.

Don't go to the meeting.

Don't become a board member.

Don't answer the phone.

Sign up to the message board.

Stay up for another hour replying to emails.

Go to the awards ceremony in another city.

Attend the conference.

Attend the seminar.

Send the thank-you note.

Don't sleep to ship on time.

Go for the job.

Lift weights.

Read the book.

Follow up with that VC.

Give the speech.

Dress up nicely to the event.

Study for the exam.

Attend an event overseas during your exam period.

Run an event overseas during your uni semester and skip a week of classes to attend.

Do the think you've been thinking about for the past 3 years.

Start the diet.

Success does not come overnight, but is the result of hundreds of decisions you make everyday.

Walking down the aisle on an international flight, everyone is watching something different.  Whether it's the most popular television drama, listening to music, playing a game, a kids movie comedy, foreign language film, or indeed the same movie but at a different stage.

People can plan when they sleep and when they are entertained.

10 years ago, everyone was stuck with the same public screen on international flights, meaning that everyone was expected to be awake at the same time if they wanted to watch the movie, and everyone had to make do with the movie the airline chose.

If they slept, they would miss out on the in-flight entertainment entirely.

By decentralising the decision-making and providing the consumer with the tools to act on their decisions, has added to a richer flying experience.  We're not expecting consumers to want the same thing at the same time.

How can we apply this to other industries?  Education is one that comes straight to mind.

I used to think I was brilliant.  That I was different.  That I was special.  But then I realised a lot of people feel that way about themselves.  And if everyone is brilliant and special, then who are the average people?

They make up the majority of all surveys, so they must exist.

And so I chose to be one of the average people.  A dime in a dozen.  Another brick in the wall.

I don't mind being average, because if I'm average, it means I have to work twice as hard if I want to achieve anything.

Just taking one action a day, moves your project forward.  Keep living your life.  Keep going to work.  Keep studying.  Keep seeing your friends.  Keep cooking your dinners.  Keep your hobbies.  Keep going to conferences.  Keep travelling.

But along the way, always take at least one action a day to move your project forward.  And if you've planned it well.  These one actions, compounded, could lead your project into directions you never imagined possible before.

Am I working towards a larger life goal?  Am I learning anything?  Does this help keep a roof over my head?

I focused on a number of activities while I was at uni:  Nudge, mew, Robogals.

At one point in uni, I even considered setting up 10 organisations while at uni.  Five non-profits and five for-profits, so that I could leave uni having had all that experience!

But then I realised that I would learn so much more just by focusing all my efforts on one thing, doing that very well, then handing that over gently to the next generation.

Robogals was going the best - already with 12 chapters and in 4 countries by that time, and so I decided to stick with that.

I stopped all my extra-curricula activities except Robogals, and achieved even more amazing results.

To optimise your efforts, focus on the things that achieve the most results.