A big part of my little success

It’s probably not what you think.

Anna Mackenzie

Dec 05, 2024

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A little announcement from me to you! Next week I’m launching the Portfolio Career Operating System, an all-in-one Notion OS designed to help streamline your workflows, save time and minimise burnout while focusing on the things that drive more revenue, happiness and fulfilment. It’s the exact system I use to run my multi-six-figure portfolio of work across startup consulting and advisory, mentoring, writing, speaking gigs and digital products.

The Portfolio Career OS is dropping at 10am, December 9 AEST / 3pm, December 8 PST and the first 10 people to buy will receive annual updates for free, for life. It’s my way of saying thanks for being an early supporter of my work 🫶🏼

Sign up to the waitlist to be the first to know ❤️‍🔥

I’m not gonna lie, I’ve had a good year this year.

A lot has happened: I found my voice, uncovered a niche, got into a Substack groove, diversified my income streams from 2 to 6, was featured in various global publications, blew up momentarily on Tiktok, and felt more peace, strength and creativity than I ever have before.

As we hurtle into Christmas I’ve been thinking about what’s driven my small successes here on Substack, over on LinkedIn and Tiktok, and in my portfolio career in general. There’s been a lot of hard work and a little bit of luck, but if I really boil it down I think it’s largely due to my abnormal bias for action and ability to execute to a fault.

I’ll send the sales email even if I’m nervous
I’ll post the content even though I’m dying inside
I’ll put my hand up to public speak even if I’m having a meltdown
I’ll ship the product even if it’s not perfect

My willingness to take action is not innate, it’s learned. It’s not born, it’s built. Over the years I’ve managed to create an environment for my portfolio career in which action has become not just probable, but inevitable.

Friction = inaction

Many things stand in the way of taking action:

Self doubt
Lack of confidence
Fear of failure, fear of success, fear of being seen, fear of the unknown
Procrastination
Indecisiveness

I’ve tussled with all of the above but for me, the single biggest barrier to action is friction. Friction when I can’t immediately find the information I need. Friction that comes from context switching. Friction as a result of things being harder than they need to be. This friction creates resistance, which leads to a delay, which opens up space for my thoughts to become a magnified echo of my own perceived shortcomings and reasons why something can’t be done. That, or I get distracted and put on a load of washing before finding ten reasons that I should reorganise my closet.

This cavern of time is where dreams go to die. It’s a graveyard full of $100M dollar businesses, exquisite paintings and voices of a generation. I avoid this cavern at all costs because no price is worth paying to spend even a second there. Not my comfort. Not my ease. Not my security. Not a thing.

How I minimise friction and maximise action

Here are a few ways I reduce friction so that I’m primed to act, execute and do.

The Daily Dashboard

Also known as the hub that runs my entire portfolio career and life. It’s a centralised place that houses all important tasks and information at a glance: my daily focus, monthly goals, sales pipeline, content calendar, habits, admin tasks, client work and more. No scattered information or mental clutter here.

The Portfolio Career OS Daily Dashboard (condensed view).

My Idea Capture System

My system for noticing, capturing, organising, storing and drawing on ideas. This is the only reason I’ve been able to ship 65 newsletters, grow to 5200+ subscribers, share hundreds of LinkedIn posts and 50+ Tiktoks this year. Every iota of my creative output begins here.

Email Scripts

A portfolio career involves sending emails, lots of them. There are general network-building emails. Sales emails. Pitch emails. Follow up emails. Discovery call emails. Gently saying no emails. Instead of starting from scratch each time, I’ve templated them all so there’s no chance I overthink, back out or don’t hit send.

Daily Habit Trackers

Ah, the daily habit tracker! Looks unhinged, but it means that there’s no room for ambiguity when it comes to the actions I’ve committed to doing each (or most) days. I don’t waste precious energy negotiating with myself about why I should or shouldn’t post on LinkedIn, or why I can or can’t send my daily cold outreach. It’s already committed so there’s less time faffing about, more time doing the things that move me forward.

Batched Admin

I carve out two hours on a Friday afternoon (usually with a glass of ice cold Pinot Gris in hand) to bash through boring admin, busy work and annoying but required recurring tasks. I organise these basic tasks in a way such that they only pop up on Friday’s to do list. For the rest of the week they’re out of site, out of mind, never to distract me from the important work again.

Making new stuff as easy as possible

Take Tiktok, for example. It’s the hardest content to create so I make it as easy as humanly possible. I edit within the Tiktok app and don’t bother with special effects. I sit in the same spot for everyone video so I don’t need to think about the background. I exclusively speak to camera so I don’t need to plan B-roll or voiceovers. No friction, no excuses.

Make action your default

I reduce friction so that I spend less time on bullshit and more time making great shit. I do it so my potential doesn’t die in a deep cavern alongside millions of others’ who never made it out. I make action my default because 99.9% of things in my portfolio career are low stakes and reversible. The risk of making an unforgivable mistake or life-altering choice is minuscule if not completely absent, and so in 99.9% of cases reducing my time from idea to action plays out in my favour.

So what about you?

With less friction and more action, who might you become? You could be the next founder of a $100M business or the voice of our generation. You could become someone unrecognisable to your current self. Someone who is bolder, hungrier and ready to make themselves known.

Someone glorious and truly alive.

The Portfolio Career Operating System - drops next week!

This all-in-one Portfolio Career OS is designed to help you streamline workflows, reduce friction, save time, stop questioning and take meaningful action towards your dreams. Who knows what it could unlock for you?