WEBVTT NOTE This file was generated by Descript 00:00:05.366 --> 00:00:06.596 Mike Bifulco: This is tiny improvements. 00:00:06.656 --> 00:00:07.706 I'm Mike bifocal. 00:00:09.902 --> 00:00:11.053 At its heart fits laws. 00:00:11.083 --> 00:00:11.473 Simple. 00:00:12.073 --> 00:00:13.753 The time required to move your mouse. 00:00:13.753 --> 00:00:14.923 Cursor to a target. 00:00:15.043 --> 00:00:18.643 Onscreen is a function of the distance to the target as well as its size. 00:00:19.183 --> 00:00:22.363 The further away in smaller, the target is the longer it takes to reach it. 00:00:22.753 --> 00:00:26.023 Therefore the closer and larger the target, the faster it is to reach it. 00:00:26.173 --> 00:00:27.433 It makes intuitive sense. 00:00:28.783 --> 00:00:31.993 This is the reason that the actions you take in phone apps are on large 00:00:32.023 --> 00:00:33.433 buttons near where your thumb is. 00:00:33.943 --> 00:00:37.453 It's why the X to close a window is at the top right corner of the screen. 00:00:37.853 --> 00:00:41.543 It's also why it's so hard to click on a tiny link on a website and why you 00:00:41.573 --> 00:00:45.173 have to focus more to move your cursor to the right spot in a text document. 00:00:46.163 --> 00:00:49.133 In other words, big well-placed targets are easier to hit 00:00:49.163 --> 00:00:50.903 than small, far away targets. 00:00:52.403 --> 00:00:53.663 You see where I'm going with this yet? 00:00:54.583 --> 00:00:56.623 Tiny improvements in big goals. 00:00:57.283 --> 00:01:00.133 I'm not going to sit here and tell you that it's easy to reach your goals. 00:01:00.703 --> 00:01:04.123 No matter what you're after it's going to take time, effort and focus. 00:01:04.253 --> 00:01:06.083 But I do think it's easier to reach your goals. 00:01:06.083 --> 00:01:08.963 If you set some audacious targets and work towards them with 00:01:08.993 --> 00:01:10.643 small, consistent improvements. 00:01:11.073 --> 00:01:14.103 when I set out to start publishing developer articles, I made a list of 00:01:14.103 --> 00:01:17.523 50 people from the industry who I would be thrilled to see reading my words. 00:01:17.973 --> 00:01:19.563 This was my target, the bullseye. 00:01:19.563 --> 00:01:20.403 I was aiming for. 00:01:21.573 --> 00:01:24.483 These weren't necessarily people I knew, but there were people who I 00:01:24.483 --> 00:01:27.273 admire and who I thought would be interested in what I had to say. 00:01:28.473 --> 00:01:30.123 Every time I brainstorm new topics. 00:01:30.423 --> 00:01:32.193 I'd try to write for the people on that list. 00:01:32.493 --> 00:01:35.073 Was it reasonable to think that I'd get any of these 50 people 00:01:35.073 --> 00:01:36.093 to read what I have to say? 00:01:36.303 --> 00:01:37.053 Probably not. 00:01:37.353 --> 00:01:40.113 But the audacity of the goal helped me to focus on writing 00:01:40.113 --> 00:01:41.733 for that specific audience. 00:01:42.033 --> 00:01:44.193 And that's truly what helped me to write better. 00:01:44.833 --> 00:01:45.253 From there. 00:01:45.253 --> 00:01:48.613 I started publishing a dev tutorial a week as an article on my site. 00:01:48.733 --> 00:01:51.403 This was before my newsletter tiny improvements existed. 00:01:52.033 --> 00:01:54.913 I would thoughtfully share my work through Twitter, Reddit, LinkedIn, 00:01:54.913 --> 00:01:57.883 and dev to, to the appropriate audiences as I could find them. 00:01:57.973 --> 00:02:01.153 And when the context was right, I would reply to posts from 00:02:01.153 --> 00:02:02.623 those 50 people on my list. 00:02:02.743 --> 00:02:05.353 And I'd try to be helpful and add value to the conversation. 00:02:05.863 --> 00:02:06.733 And, you know, what. 00:02:07.073 --> 00:02:10.133 It was less than three months before I had one of the people on that list 00:02:10.133 --> 00:02:12.143 read and respond to one of my articles. 00:02:12.893 --> 00:02:15.563 It was on Twitter, which was honestly a different place back then. 00:02:16.583 --> 00:02:17.603 Fast-forward to today. 00:02:17.843 --> 00:02:21.143 And after years of consistent effort, I've gotten better at writing and 00:02:21.143 --> 00:02:22.703 built a small audience for myself. 00:02:23.183 --> 00:02:24.053 From time to time. 00:02:24.053 --> 00:02:26.423 I even get messages from friends that they've seen my articles 00:02:26.423 --> 00:02:28.793 shared by people they follow, which is a pretty cool feeling. 00:02:29.853 --> 00:02:32.613 Recently, I got a message from a friend after Sebastian. 00:02:32.613 --> 00:02:35.943 Lorber published an article of mine in his newsletter this week in react. 00:02:36.333 --> 00:02:38.553 He was kind enough to also post it on Twitter. 00:02:38.553 --> 00:02:42.333 And it got a reply from Joel hooks, who is the creator of egghead.io. 00:02:43.053 --> 00:02:45.513 I've been learning from both of these guys for years. 00:02:45.543 --> 00:02:49.113 And honestly, it was a great feeling to see the two of them talking about my work. 00:02:49.383 --> 00:02:52.593 Joel, even got in touch with me afterwards to talk about creating something together, 00:02:52.593 --> 00:02:53.913 which I would love to do someday. 00:02:54.613 --> 00:02:57.703 Anyway, coming back to the core of this, my initial goal was to get one 00:02:57.703 --> 00:03:00.853 of these 50 special people to read and respond to one of my articles. 00:03:01.093 --> 00:03:02.803 And when they did, it was a great feeling. 00:03:03.253 --> 00:03:06.913 The surprising side effect was that I had also built a growing audience of people 00:03:06.913 --> 00:03:08.353 who are interested in what I have to say. 00:03:08.933 --> 00:03:11.513 And I was helping people all over the world who were trying to learn 00:03:11.513 --> 00:03:12.803 the same things that I was learning. 00:03:13.433 --> 00:03:14.783 This is why I love Fitz law. 00:03:15.263 --> 00:03:18.113 It's a reminder that big targets are easier to hit than small ones. 00:03:18.473 --> 00:03:21.533 If I had set out to get one person to read my articles, I probably would 00:03:21.533 --> 00:03:25.023 have stopped after the first few weeks it would have been infuriating, but 00:03:25.023 --> 00:03:28.923 because I had a big goal, I was able to focus on small, consistent improvements 00:03:28.923 --> 00:03:30.273 that would get me closer to it. 00:03:30.273 --> 00:03:30.813 At least. 00:03:32.888 --> 00:03:34.508 So it boils down to this. 00:03:34.748 --> 00:03:38.348 When you set goals for yourself, make them big, make them audacious. 00:03:38.708 --> 00:03:40.418 And try to do more than you think you can do. 00:03:40.958 --> 00:03:43.208 You might be surprised how far along that path you get.