Curly's law and the secret of life

Or how a short dialogue from a 90s comedy with Billy Crystal and Jack Palance can teach you one of the most important life lessons.

Curly's law and the secret of life

Remember the movie "I Run Out of Town" with Billy Crystal and Jack Palance as the consummate cowboy Curly Washburn?

Well ... I had already put it on the back burner for some time: until yesterday. Reviewing the film on a quiet Christmas afternoon I was struck by a dialogue between the two protagonists, which reminded me of what the real thing is. secret of life:



Andre ', you won't come and tell me that a' 90s B-movie has even the secret of life in its dialogues… but it goes there, it goes there!

Well, don't be skeptical - read the dialogue. ;-)

Curly: You know who she is the secret of life?

Mitch: No, which one is it?

Curly: This. [holds up a finger]

Mitch: Your finger?

Curly: One thing. Only one thing. You hold it tight and everything else can go to hell.

Mitch: Yeah sure, mah… what is this thing?

Curly: [Laughs] This is you who has to find out.

This brief dialogue is the basis of the so-called "Curly's Law": do one thing.

The power of this principle is contained in its elegant simplicity. No magic formulas, no Law of Attraction, no complicated techniques, just 3 words: do one thing.

Doing one thing at a time means prioritizing the important things in life, achieving more results with less stress. I have already told you why it is better to do one thing at a time, now I want to talk to you about the how.



How to apply Curly's Law in 3 steps

  1. Set 1 goal only. When we have a whole year ahead of us we begin to set dozens of goals: get a promotion, find a new love, graduate, etc. After all we have 365 sparkling days in front of us, there is time to do everything! Then the months pass, September arrives and ... "of 10 things done, you have managed half". Adopt a new strategy this year: focus on one goal at a time. Take a few minutes and think: what is that goal that if achieved in the next 3 months would have a real impact on your life? That goal that makes you dream, that makes you jump out of bed wanting to get out there and conquer the world? Within the annual course 365 - An Epic Year we call these goals # quarterly mantra, or our "obsession", our top priority for each quarter of the new year. The #mantra system has helped thousands of Effective to finally live the… epic years.
  2. Change only 1 habit. The evening of December 31 is the evening of good intentions. Admit it, you too have thought at least once "with the new year I want ...": go to the gym, stop smoking, use your smartphone less, get up early to make my holy hour, etc. Do you know what happens a couple of weeks later? Resolutions begin to fall one after another, like leaves in autumn, leaving you there like a bare tree with no motivation. Adopt a new strategy this year: decide to change a single habit and keep this good resolution for at least 1 days (the average time it takes to form a new habit). If you have been successful and the good resolution has turned into a daily habit, move on to the second good resolution and keep it for another 66 days. Think about it, what your life would be like if you could just adopt 5 key new good habits in the next 12 months?
  3. Do only 1 thing, but do it today. If you are a motivated person, ambitious and attentive to your personal growth, at this point you will already have yours in mind first goal and habits you want to adopt for the new year. You probably can't wait to get started and your motivation is sky high, but… it won't last. The excitement of the first day wears off quickly, it's up to you to decide whether to burn it in a single blaze or use it in small doses, just enough to rekindle your motivation every day. Adopt a new strategy ... today: do 1 small thing towards your goal and then dedicate yourself to something else. Don't wait later, take your little action today, now. Tomorrow take another small step and so the day after tomorrow. 365 small actions can lead to 1 big result.

Then? What's your one thing? What is the first goal you want to achieve in the new year? What is the habit you want to start with? What is the action you will take today? Let me know in the comments. Thanks.



Ps. In the previous lines I mentioned you to 365 - An Epic Year.

This is an annual (per) course that I undertake every year, starting January 1st, with 1.000 new readers. Day after day I accompany them through daily challenges of personal growth, delivered directly via email (or through the dedicated app), in the realization of their most ambitious goals:


  • There are those who are graduate, despite still having 13 exams to complete.
  • Some have started their own independent activity, arriving to invoice hundreds of thousands of euros.
  • There are those who have decided to leave those behind 10kg too much that had burdened him for too many years.
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