Today
consider the three questions that can help bring you closer to goal achievement.
The sun came up (no surprise here, if you are reading this), and you have a fresh new day with 24 hours of opportunity. Assuming you will sleep eight of those hours, how will you use the remaining 16 hours?
Steve Jobs is credited with saying, “For the past 33 years I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ‘If today were the last day of my life would I want to do what I am about to do today?’ And whenever the answer has been ‘No’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.”
Maybe, like Jobs, it is time to
change and become proactive by taking charge of your life today.
To help insure that you spend
your time effectively and efficiently you can start by answering these three
important questions. First, “What am I going
to do today that brings me closer to my goal?” Next, as the day progresses,
look for answers to the question, “What am I doing today that brings me closer to my goal? And finally, at the
end of the day, answer the key question, “What did I do today that brought me closer to my goal?”
What am I going
to do today that brings me closer to my goal?
List the actions—make a phone
call, send an e-mail, get an appointment with, run 2 miles, rework and update
resume, get a haircut, etc.— you will take today that bring you closer to your goal.
This is a result-orientation not a “whatever happens— happens” approach to a
productive day.
What am I doing today that brings me closer to my goal?
These are the activities—small
and large—that draw you closer to your goal. The more effectively you execute
your game plan, the more you get done, the more successful you become.
What did
I do today that brought me closer to my goal?
Here is where you separate
actions from results, the winner from the also ran. Successful people use their day focused on
the urgent/important activities that bring them closer to their goal. For the
unsuccessful, their list of activities for the day will mostly consist of
non-urgent/non important actions.
Should you experience a brain
“freeze” some morning when considering an action for the day, you may want to
consider this one offered by legendary motivational icon, Og Mandino.
“Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by
midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can
muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the
same again.”
You create magic when you value
everyone you encounter. Today, meet, greet and make magic.
Success
Summary
SUCCESS THOUGHT: Success isn’t waiting for you to awake each
morning. Even the first cup (or second
or third) of coffee doesn’t brew success. Success is not a receivable item, it
is a delivered item. And to deliver success each day, people must know: 1. what
they are going to do, 2. what they are doing and at the end of the day, 3. list
the activities that brought them closer to their goal.
SUCCESS QUOTE: “Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as
you’ll die today.” —James Dean
SUCCESS ACTION: Have a detailed daily game plan and execute
it.
BOOK REMINDER— I recently published an e-book—"Mentor In The Mirror"—that is available on Amazon, Barnes& Noble and iBooks. Go to my web site: www.waynenalls.com for additional information and a review.
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