Side Quests · Small missions. Real progress.
Time: 15 minutes Cost: Free You’ll need: A notes app or a sheet of paper.
You keep working on your side hustle, but what are you actually working toward? More freedom? A reliable extra income? A creative business you enjoy running? Today’s quest is to give those ambitions a useful shape, without spending your evening writing a business plan.
Your mission: Finish one page that describes your direction, your next milestone, and one action you can take this week. This is a working draft, not a forecast or a promise.
Your five-step quest
- Picture an ordinary week three years from now. (3 minutes)
Write two sentences about the work you want to do and the time you want it to take. Include something you want to protect, such as weekends or family time. Keeping your day job is a perfectly valid destination. - Name your customer and your offer. (3 minutes)
Complete: “I help [specific customer] with [specific problem] by selling [product or service].” Choose one starting point. You are not committing to it forever. - Choose one sign of progress. (3 minutes)
Pick a measure you can actually record: repeat customers, completed orders, paid projects, or hours spent delivering each job. Write your starting point, even if it is zero. Any future target is an ambition, not guaranteed earnings. - Bring the horizon closer. (3 minutes)
Choose one 90-day milestone that would move you in that direction. “Create three portfolio samples and show them to five relevant prospects” is more actionable than “be successful.” Make the milestone mostly dependent on actions you control. - Book the first move. (3 minutes)
Put one small action on this week’s calendar. Then set a review date for a month from now. Review whether the direction still fits, rather than treating the page as a contract with your future self.
Copy this one-page outline
In three years, I want my working week to look like:
The customer I want to help:
The offer I will start with:
My current baseline and one measure of progress:
My next 90-day milestone:
This week’s action and when I will do it:
My review date:
Quest complete when: Your page is saved somewhere easy to find and one action is in your calendar. You do not need to solve the next three years today. You just need a clearer next move.
