The following is an article “Giving Your Best”
by Marc Primo.
We are all capable of greatness. If that is true, then why is it so many of us waste our time with distractions. We talk about our dreams, our goals and what we want to do when we make it. Only to end up watching hours of YouTube videos and another day went by. We lie to ourselves and others with no apparent purpose. What is going on?
Just because you are capable does not mean you will.
Humans are creatures of habit and habits take time to settle in. Creating the right ones can be the difference between letting your life pass you by and achieving many if not all of your goals.
So you have to decide. Take action, make changes and start heading towards those goals.
Makes sense. It is even obvious, but most people don't get over this necessary step of actually changing themselves before complaining about how the world is at fault for their lack of action.
Here are some tips to get you started on the path to success and probably a better you.
1- Segment Your Goals
Long-term goals tend to be daunting. Let's say you want to write a book. Just thinking about having to write 500 pages of anything can paralyze the best of us. So, if you segment a big goal into smaller daily tasks, suddenly it's not so daunting. Bestselling author, Tim Ferris, famously says he feels successful if he writes one page a day. This strategy takes the stress of the task and melts it right off. It does not matter if it sucks, do it, and then you will have something to fix and work on. You can apply this to any goal you can think of.
2- Plan You Day
Improvising can be a great asset to many of us. It can pull you out of bad spots, but if you go through life without some sort of a plan, you will end up in some sort of a place. Not where you wanted to be.
Planning each day thinking about where you want to be in 5, 10, 20 years is the only way you can get there.
The idea here is to start your day with a set of small goals and end your day reviewing how it went. This way you can make amends on your failed attempts the next day, and no task gets left behind. Asking yourself on a daily basis if you did your best will help you commit to yourself. Every day your desire to fulfill those tasks will grow stronger so that you can answer yes at the end of the day. Yes, I completed my tasks feels much better than no because--insert excuse here--.
3- Have Fixed Daily Routines
When you don't have an 8-5 job, keeping track of your time can be confusing. The freedom of time can lead you to the wasting of time.
So have a daily task at the same time every day and reap the benefits.
Here is what I mean. Let's say you want to go to the gym every day at 8:00 am that means you have to wake up before then and washup and fix yourself breakfast with enough time to digest and be able to work out. Suddenly you are out of the house before, and you may need to schedule meetings after the fact that means packing a set of clothes with you and shower kit to be out of the gym fresh. Having this fixed activity forces you to plan the rest of your day around it. Making you more effective.
Success can be elusive. It can slip through your hands easily so take action. Premeditated days are better than the let's see what happens attitude for your goals. The more you act this way, the more you will think this way and things will fall into place.