Mind of a Maker
A daily blog inspired by Matthew Dicks
“Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity.”
To become better at something, you have to practice. What better way to become a better writer and storyteller than to practice by making a habit of writing daily?
In this daily blog, we’ll discuss Maker-related topics as well as what inspires projects, including YouTube videos, Movies, TV Shows, Disney, Star Wars, LEGO, Books, and more. Everything is on the table, and nothing is off-limits.
Disclaimer: The thumbnail images featured on this blog are often AI-generated. See Disclosure page for more information.
The 2 Best Habits For Achieving Your Business Goals
I used to constantly miss my goals until I started these 2 habits.
1. Review short-term goals daily
2. Zero inboxes & review long-term goals weekly
The daily review keeps you on track with your actions.
The weekly review keeps your actions aligned with your ambitions.
6 Steps To Realign Annual Goals (Even If Your New Year's Resolution Already Failed)
80% of goals fail by February, so here are 6 simple steps to realign your 2026 goals.
1. Identify Jan mistakes
2. Dig into the root cause of mistakes
3. Plan to reduce or remove the root causes
4. Reaffirm Q1 and Feb goals
5. Forget Jan mistakes
6. Put Feb goals into action now
3 Takeaways For Entrepreneurs From "The ONE Thing"
Most aspiring entrepreneurs get frustrated when their big goals fall flat, but their focus is too fractured.
1. Narrow goal focus till there is only ONE thing
2. Don't settle for small goals
3. Don't try to do everything right
Having big goals is amazing, but focus every day on the ONE thing that will give you leverage.
5 Ways To Start Dominating Your Week Instead Of Playing Catchup
I got tired of feeling constantly behind, but found 5 ways that help me own my week instead of feeling owned by it.
1. Don't wait till Monday to plan
2. Zero all your inboxes
3. Clean up projects & tasks
4. Sync your goals
Now you're set up to not play catchup, but we can do one better.
5. Set this week's non-negotiables.
Lock in.
The 1 Way "Fail Fast" Falls Short & Leaves Side-Hustlers Burned Up On Reentry
We've all heard that successful companies fail fast (and it's repeated on X every day).
But if lessons from failure are not applied to the next iteration, it's insanity.
Use data to inform the next iteration.
The Number 1 Key To Consistency For Aspiring Entrepreneurs
When you miss, don't fall into guilt and stop.
Get back up immediately and get back into it.
James Clear said it best: "Missing once is an accident. Missing twice is the start of a new habit."
5 Easy Steps To Achieve Your 2026 Maker Goals (Even If You Never Mark Annual Goals Complete)
Want to FINALLY achieve your 2026 goals? Follow these 5 easy steps.
1. Pick 1 single 2026 Goal (yes, only 1)
2. Set Q1 goals To hit the Annual
3. Set Jan goals to hit the Q1
4. Set this week's goals to hit Jan's
5. Figure out the actions required to nail the week.
Repeat weekly.
My Simple Goal Setting Framework To Get More Done In 2026 (Even If You Haven't Accomplished Goals Before)
To get more done in 2026, I'm using a simple goal framework, slightly modified from Ali Abdaal 's model.
I set goals by level with longer goals informing shorter.
0. Long-Term
1. Annual
2. Quarterly
3. Monthly
4. Weekly
Each goal gets a project.
Review weekly goals daily and everything weekly.
3 Things I'm Thankful For This Christmas (Beyond The Basics Of Friends & Family)
The few minutes I glanced at social media today had tones of thankful posts that I will assume were genuine, but all started to sound the same. Everyone is thankful for their friends, family, their health, and job.
Not that I am NOT thankful for those things, but I wanted to think hard about what I'm thankful for beyond those things.
It also happens that these 3 things are the layers driving my biggest goal for 2026.
3 Maker Topics I’m Obsessed With For 2026 Builds
It’s that time to start thinking about what projects I want to tackle next year (and which are in my goals from a previous article).
This year, I haven’t built as much in my garage workshop because I’ve been focusing on building out the business. In 2026, I’m still focused on building the business, but it will also involve making more projects. For example, I’m going to be filming in my home office more, so I want that background to look better than the cluttered wall it currently is.
How Ali Abdaal’s Goal Framework Changed How I Plan My Business
I’ve always struggled with how to set goals.
Well, more accurately, I’ve always struggled with setting super high goals, waiting to the last minute to do anything about them, then failing miserably. Part of it was trying to figure out what my “5 year plan” was, but not knowing what that meant for today.
Before you set your 2026 goals, let me save you some time and share what worked for me in 2025 (and how I’m approaching 2026).