What hurts my brain the most
The One Page Review # 8
Hi 👋 friends,
One thing I think most people relate to is wanting to do more in life — and somehow ending up doing less.
Do you ever feel that foggy mental pressure, jumping from one thing to another until you end up cooking or cleaning just to feel productive?
A small percentage of people don’t seem to struggle with this. They’re the ones we see creating, building, achieving — the “disciplined few” who make it look effortless. I’ve been studying them lately, and they all share one thing in common:
Clarity.
Clarity in a specific task.
Whether it’s short-term or long-term doesn’t matter. What matters is having something defined enough to direct your energy toward.
🔧 1. What’s Working for Me
I’ve realized that clarity isn’t a switch you turn on — it’s a skill you build. It takes time and iteration, but every step makes life a little less noisy.
When I started YouTube about a year ago, I didn’t have clarity. It was something I wanted to explore beyond work — though I also had to push through social media anxiety (my Instagram is as empty as my gallery is full).
Then I made an Excel video that unexpectedly got me monetized. It was exciting, and I was proud of that milestone — but I still wasn’t sure where to go from there.
Part of my confusion came from having too many directions that made sense on paper. I’ve always been analytical — I studied finance and stats, grew up around structure — but clarity isn’t about knowing how to plan. It’s about knowing what to focus that plan on.
That’s when it hit me: progress doesn’t come from doing everything — it comes from deciding.
Having an idea of what you want in life, breaking it down into small, achievable goals, and staying consistent — that’s what compounds. That’s how I found a good job in a tough market and monetized my channel without a niche.
Maybe now that I’ve worked through those early hurdles, this is what I need to do next — decide.
🎧 2. What I’m Listening to / Reading
Lately, I’ve been watching interviews and breakdowns of creators and entrepreneurs who’ve built something from scratch. What they all emphasize isn’t luck — it’s clarity. The clearer your focus, the faster things move.
I’ve also been experimenting with my own system for breaking goals into small, optimized steps — inspired by how investors think about compounding growth. I’ll share more about this in an upcoming video.
🏙️ 3. Life in the City
Toronto is actually a great place to meet people — if you’re the one who initiates.
People are craving genuine, in-person conversations again. Most of the time, if you reach out, they’ll say yes simply because no one else tried.
I’ve been reconnecting with old friends and meeting new ones lately. You never know which conversation might spark an idea or give you the clarity you’ve been missing.
Sometimes it takes a few follow-ups before plans actually happen — and that’s okay. Be the one who reaches out. Don’t let pride get in the way.
💭 4. Thought
One thing I’ve learned watching successful people — whether YouTubers, execs, or founders — is that clarity doesn’t come before action. It comes through action.
When I look back at the times I’ve felt stuck, it’s never because I didn’t have potential. It’s because I didn’t have direction. I was spreading energy everywhere and wondering why nothing was moving.
Clarity is like building a muscle — it grows the more you use it.
If you can break down what you want into smaller time periods — a week, a month, a quarter — it takes the pressure off. And over time, those clear, consistent steps compound into something real.
Just like investing, small, focused actions multiply. Every bit of progress — every video, project, and intentional decision — adds up in ways you can’t see yet.
Clarity gives those small actions direction, and direction gives them power.
It’s the same principle as investing — not in money this time, but in focus.
👉 I shared a video breaking down my approach to goal-setting and clarity — the mindset behind how I’ve seen creators and entrepreneurs stay consistent. You can watch it here.
I’d love to hear — what’s one area of your life you’re craving more clarity in right now?
Shermeen