Okay, so yesterday morning I was scrolling through my feed and saw Scott Fifer’s name pop up again. Kept hearing about how he builds stuff that actually matters. Got curious. Grabbed my notebook – you know, the one with coffee stains – and decided to tear apart his approach myself. Let’s see what stuck.
The Starting Point: Just Pick One Thing
First, I remembered Scott talks about starting stupid small. Didn’t overthink it. Walked to my messy garage – been avoiding it for weeks. Stood there feeling overwhelmed. Then I literally pointed at a shelf. “Alright,” I mumbled, “just organize that one shelf today.” Took everything off, wiped it down, threw out broken crap, put only useful stuff back. Took 20 minutes. Felt weirdly good. Point is: pick one tiny win. Do it.
The Notebook Trick For Focus
Scott’s big on “intentional action,” whatever that means. Figured it’s about not just reacting to crap all day. So I tried this: before opening email or social apps, I grabbed my notebook. Wrote down ONE thing I wanted to accomplish that morning. Not “work on project.” Nah. Wrote: “Finish expense report for Q2 by 11am.” Set a timer. Ignored everything else – pings, texts, the cat knocking over a plant – until it was done. Weirdly satisfying. Like punching a task in the face.
Talking Like a Human (Seriously)
Heard Scott preaches “stop sounding like a robot.” I suck at networking emails. My usual: “Dear [Name], I hope this finds you well…” Bleh. Tried his dumb trick yesterday. Wrote an email to a client like I was texting my buddy. Started with: “Hey Mark – saw your team’s launch last week. That dashboard feature? Genius. Quick question…” No fancy words. Just talked. Hit send before I could chicken out. Got a reply in 15 minutes. Actual conversation happened. Lesson: drop the corporate voice crap.
The “Why Five Times” Thing Actually Works
Read that Scott asks “why?” five times to dig deep. Sounded like psychobabble, but tried it when feeling stuck on a blog draft. Went like this:
- Why am I writing this?
→ Because I promised a post.
- Why did I promise it?
→ Because people asked about productivity tools. - Why do they care?
→ They’re drowning in busywork. - Why do they want less busywork?
→ To focus on stuff they actually enjoy. - Why does that matter?
→ Oh. They want freedom. Not “tools.”
Rewrote the whole thing about creating space instead of software. Felt way more real.
What Stuck With Me
Scott’s not about big theories. It’s stupid simple, actionable junk:
- Cut big messes into one-shelf projects. Do it now.
- Write the ONE thing before you touch anything else. Defend that time.
- Talk like a normal person, especially in writing.
- Ask “why?” like an annoying toddler until you hit the real reason.
Tried these over two days. Felt less like a headless chicken. More impact? Hell, cleared a shelf, shipped an actual task, had a human conversation, and wrote something that didn’t suck. That’s a win. You could try it tomorrow. Just pick one shelf.