1. What Is This Course and How Does It Work?
This first lesson serves as a sort of "user manual" for the One Big Win course. It's about an 8-minute read, and by the end you'll know how the whole program works. Don't skip it!
What is this course?
One Big Win is an online course designed to help you do two things:
Achieve a major personal victory during your spare time, over an eight-week period, using the “Block Method”
Achieve any future goal using this approach
The Block Method is the simple, universal productivity method I described in my ebook, How to Do Things: Productivity for the Productivity-Challenged. This course assumes you’ve read How to Do Things already, and have a basic grasp of the Block Method.
If you haven’t read HTDT yet, not to worry — it can be read in an hour or less, and its method can be implemented right away. Your first task, in that case, is to give it a read, because from here on in we will assume you have.
NOTE: You can find a copy of How to Do Things in the Resource section of the course. This section can be found at the very bottom of the lesson list. Download a file called "How to do Things v1.0.pdf"
The role of the Block Method in One Big Win
As you know (if you've read How to Do Things) the Block Method is a way of working in short, intentional, uninterrupted sprints of 25 minutes.
A single Block is easy to achieve, yet it represents a significant unit of work in any project. One Block consists of enough focused effort to complete a minor task, move any major task one good step forward, or knock off multiple tiny tasks.
Because even the largest goals (e.g. write a five-book fantasy series, launch an online business) are always made of smaller tasks, virtually any goal can be achieved by making some number of Blocks.
This means Blocks can be thought of as a sort of "effort currency.” You can essentially buy lasting improvements to your life — even big things like degrees, businesses, and skills — by making them out of Blocks. Blocks are building materials for your life situation.
Fixing the wobbly faucet in the kitchen might require one single Block. In less than a half hour, you’ve earned a more pleasant kitchen experience, every day, perhaps for years.
Setting up a budgeting app, such as You Need a Budget, might take 6 or 7 Blocks. Upon completion, you've earned lower baseline stress levels, a greater sense of control over your life, and enough waste might be prevented to effectively give yourself a raise.
Completing your first short story might take 25 Blocks. Aside from the completed story, you’ve inherited a new identity, crossing over from a dabbler/dreamer to a real writer with finished work to point to, and the confidence to produce more.
The Principle of Finitude
I call this idea -- the fact that every goal can be achieved in some number of Blocks -- the Principle of Finitude. There’s a galaxy of possibilities for your life out there, and each of them is only a stack of Blocks away. The only question is how big the stack is.
Just one Block is powerful. A stack of them can be life-changing.
In this course, you’ll choose a good-sized personal goal (one requiring between 24 and about 100 Blocks) and use the Block Method to step your way right up to its completion.
Overview of how this course works
To complete the course you will:
Prepare to embark on your Big Win by completing the Preparation section.
Plan and execute your Big Win over an eight-week period, by making one Block at a time.
Reflect on your project, enjoy its rewards, and (optionally) plan another.
During that eight-week goal period, you’ll be making Blocks towards your goal wherever you can fit them into your schedule. If you can only manage 3 or 4 Blocks per week, you’ll select a more modest goal. If you can do 10 or 12, you can select a more ambitious one.
(We'll go over this stuff in detail later -- you don't need to remember it all!)
Eight weeks in four stages
To help you move your project forward smoothly, the eight weeks of the goal period are divided into four equal “stages” of two weeks each. Each has its own small collection of lessons, which will guide you through that phase of your project.
(The Preparation section, which you’re reading now, is to be completed before your eight-week goal period begins, but it’s not very long. You could do it all in one sitting.)
Here's how the whole course looks, at a glance:
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Stage 1 (weeks 1 & 2) is about defining your goal clearly, making an action plan, and getting some Blocks in early.
Stage 2 (weeks 3 & 4) is about establishing your Block-making routines, sorting out the inevitable problems, doubts, friction points, and question marks, and getting your Big Win to about half done.
Stage 3 (weeks 5 & 6) is about beginning to close things out. Beyond the halfway mark, it’s all about elimination: wrapping things up and crossing things off.
Stage 4 (weeks 7 & 8) is about getting your goal to a true “done” state. We want to avoid compromises and loose ends, so in Stage 4 you’ll focus on finalizing and polishing.
Each stage contains a handful of lessons to illustrate key concepts, and a few tasks to get your project to the next step. Most take only a few minutes. Do the lessons in order.
The lessons are there to guide your progress through your personal project. Most of your time will be spent making Blocks on your project.
When does the eight-week period start?
One Big Win can be done as a solo journey, or as a part of a group cohort.
Unlike previous cohorts, the Fall/Winter 2025 cohort of One Big Win has a flexible start date. If you wish to do your Big Win along with the group cohort, you'll select a start date between November 3 and November 17.
You can choose any date you like, however. Just be aware that most people will start their project during the above window, and the forum will be most active during the following eight-ish-week period.
The day you choose will be the first day of your eight weeks, and the day your Stage 1 begins.
Do the Preparation section first!
You should do all the lessons and tasks in this Preparation section BEFORE your chosen start date arrives.
This is so you're ready to grab the reins on that very first day, knowing exactly what you have to do. You want to start your Big Win strong!
The Preparation section and its tasks should take maybe an hour, two max. It’s fine to do it all in one sitting, or in a few sessions.
After you're done the Preparation section, you're ready for the eight-week goal period and its four stages:
Stage 1 begins on your chosen start date
Stage 2 begins on two weeks after that date
Stage 3 begins on four weeks after that date
Stage 4 begins begins six weeks after that date
You don't have to choose your start date right now, but when you do, put the above four dates into your calendar to mark each stage. Start doing the lessons for each stage on or around those dates. It's best to do the lessons early on in each stage, then go on to working on your project with the rest of the time.
Do I need a definite start date? And can I take longer than eight weeks?
Again, you can begin your Big Win whenever you choose.
However, it is positively vital that you:
Decide on a DEFINITE start date. It must be absolutely clear which day you will begin Stage 1. The whole course proceeds from that date. You can select your date any time during the Preparation stage.
Give yourself only the eight weeks. One Big Win's method is arranged around four two-week stages, and the point of the course is to learn to complete a significant goal in a constrained timeframe.
Note that you have permanent access to the course, so that you can use the OBW framework to complete as many Big Wins as you like. You can make a whole career, a whole personal creative empire, out of Big Wins.
I have some holidays / busy periods coming up. How can I do a huge project now?
This Fall 2025 cohort is starting as we approach the year-end season, which is busy for many people.
This does NOT mean you have to wait until a less busy time.
The point of this course is to achieve a goal in your spare time, without interrupting your life to do it, or “clearing the decks” beforehand. We're prone to delaying our goals forever, under the belief that we’ll have fewer obligations in the future. The Block Method allows for serious progress to be made in small bits of time alongside the rest of your life.
Still, if you have major obligations or interruptions during the course period, you do have some options. Check out the FAQ in the Resources section for tips on accommodating pauses or breaks in your campaign.
The Forum and the Resources Section
Throughout the eight-week period, you’ll also be encouraged to connect with other students through the Discussion Forum. This is optional, but many people find it valuable. The forum is hosted on Discourse -- you'll receive an email explaining how to join the forum around the group start date window (see below).
If you scroll to the bottom of the lessons list, you'll find the Resources section. Here you can find a bucket of resources, including the How to Do Things ebook, a FAQ page, and guides to helpful productivity techniques. It’s the only part of the course you don’t need to do in order. I’ll refer to specific resources, when relevant, from within the main lessons of the course.
Do I need any supplies?
You’ll need a pencil and paper for some of the tasks. You’ll also need a timer of some sort, for making Blocks.
I also recommend assigning either a manilla folder or a clipboard to your project, to keep your plans and notes in one place.
There are quizzes?
Yes! There are two short quizzes along the way. They take about two minutes each and are designed to reinforce a few concepts central to the One Big Win method.
What's with the beach imagery?
Beaches are nice to look at, and also emblematic of dreams, possibility, and freedom.
Who are you anyway?
Most of you know me, but in case not: my name is David Cain, author of the long-running blog Raptitude, where I write about the inner details of being human in the modern world.
What do I do next?
Follow the road! Go on to the next lesson, The Philosophy of One Big Win.