How I Create My Best Work

I’m not used to writing about my personal habits, but since they’ve evolved over the years—and people sometimes ask—I’ll start by sharing something I heard a few days ago:

You’re formed not by what you do best, but by what you do most.

That line hit me hard. I’ve been doing what I do for over twenty years, yet I still feel like an intern on my first day. There’s always that moment after a few years when you think, “Okay, I get it now.” You start talking with confidence, feeling like you’ve earned the right to say how things should be done. But that’s not how you create your best work.

I’m in technology—a field that reinvents itself constantly. Breakthroughs come every few years. What was cutting-edge five years ago is now obsolete. For someone in law or medicine, that pace might seem overwhelming. You spend years learning the profession, hoping you apply that knowledge for decades. But, computation has changed everything. Every field now changes faster than we can keep up.

There’s simply too much information–too much to learn. We’re past the point where humans alone can keep up with the flood of knowledge generated daily. Computers are no longer optional; they’re now necessary to process all our knowledge.

To put it in perspective, a commonly cited statistic from the World Economic Forum and other sources estimates that 90% of the world’s data has been created in just the last two years. We are living in an era of unprecedented information production. That’s staggering when you consider that humans have been recording history for about 5,000 years, and our species has existed for roughly 300,000 years. More information is generated now every couple of years than in all of that time combined.

In that environment, sticking with something long enough to become great at it is tough. As soon as you start gaining mastery, a shiny new framework, method, or trend pops up—and it’s tempting. The Fear Of Missing Out kicks in. And FOMO feeds anxiety, which is more common than ever.

You’re formed not by what you do best, but by what you do most.

Your best work comes from repetition, from volume, from showing up daily—switching focus is the enemy. That leads to my first rule:

Choose something and stick with it.

It’s not easy. We live in a world where it’s celebrated to change jobs, cities, relationships, and even ideas on a whim. We praise the new and look down on the old. But if you want to create your best work, you have to resist that urge. You have to stick with it.

So here’s what I do:

Do one thing, and do it until you finish.

Every evening, I take a piece of paper—yes, real paper—and write down the one thing I want to accomplish the next day. Not a list. Just one thing. It could be small or big, but it has to be clear. The idea is: no matter what happens during the day, if I complete this task, I’ve achieved my most important goal. This idea comes directly from the book The ONE Thing—finding the one task that makes everything else easier or unnecessary.

Yesterday, I wrote: "Write an essay about how I create my best work."

That’s what I’m doing right now. If I finish this, the rest of the day can go in any direction, and I’ll still feel good about it. Win one day at a time.

I call that step one: do one thing.

Step two is: do it until you finish.

That part depends on your schedule. I’m a morning person. I wake up at 4:45am, hit the gym at 5:00, finish by 6:00, take my kids to school at 7:10, and start work at 7:45. By 8:00am, I’m locked in. From there, I work on my “one thing” until it’s done.

I repeat: until it's done.

Sometimes, I’m done by 9am. Great. That’s a win. I reward myself with a walk, a call with a friend, or just doing nothing for a bit. But I don’t take that reward before that. That’s key—you earn it. This approach comes from the book Atomic Habits by James Clear, which explains why it works so well: our brains are wired to respond to immediate rewards. By associating a healthy reward with completing a task, you reinforce the habit loop and make it more likely you’ll repeat the behavior the next day. You can trick yourself by choosing your reward wisely—maybe it’s an overpriced cup of coffee or a funny cat video—but it has to come after the work is done.

I repeat: after the work is done.

On other days, I finish by 2pm. Still a win. But if I’m working until 7pm, it means something went wrong. Maybe the task was too ambitious. Maybe I procrastinated. Maybe it wasn’t important enough to feel urgent. Either way, I reflect, adjust, and try again tomorrow. Win one day at a time.

The trick is in how you define the task. It has to be something you can complete in a day. Not “Build a successful company”—that’s a big fantasy. Instead: “Write a pitch deck for my new client” or “Outline next quarter’s goals based on the financials.” Break it down until it fits in a day. That’s how momentum builds.

The structure works because it forces clarity. You’re not trying to win the week or master your field in one sprint. You’re trying to win the day. And over time, winning days add up. As the saying goes: "Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten." This same principle applies to one day instead of a year—win enough days, and the results will surprise you over the long term.

A few weeks ago, I had one of those chaotic mornings. Calendar packed, inbox exploding, my mind rushing everywhere. By 11am, it felt like the day was already lost. But I read my note again. The one thing I had written: “Fix the onboarding flow for new users.” So I shut everything else down. No Slack, no email, no distractions. It took me five hours, some tough decisions, and a bit of research. But I got it done.

By 5pm, I felt like Rocky at the top of the stairs. I felt proud. A champion. That night, I slept like a king.

That’s the secret of doing your best work. Not pressure. Not magic. Not hustle. Just one thing. Every day. Until you finish.