Just Another Day..or Is It?

Is it just another day? Are you waking up and just getting through the day or are you waking up with purpose and intention ready to charge forward? OK, I have had several cups of coffee. In all seriousness though the biggest part of being successful in anything that you choose to do is having a focus or plan and being purposeful in what you do every day. Latel,y a line from a movie keeps popping into my head. I'm sure someone other that Will Smith came up with it, but he used it in the move Hitch and  I can't help thinking about how true it is when it comes to being successful in life and in business. The line is this, "Start everyday as if it were on purpose". What does that mean? It means wake up, take a minute to lay there and think about your intention for the day, tell yourself it's going to be a great day, a successful day, maybe tell yourself something specific that you are going to accomplish, then get up and get going. You have now set a purpose for your day. You will be surprised at how little time this takes each morning and the affect it has on your mindset once you get up and moving. You suddenly have a little more energy to get going.

I have been practicing this a lot recently. I spend some time reading before bed each night and when I get sleepy I tell myself "Tomorrow is going to be a great, productive day! I am going to wake up ready to make things happen." Most mornings I wake up and that is the first thing that comes to mind and I lay there for a minute and decide what I want to accomplish for the day. And of course sometimes I hit the snooze button over and over, but even then when I finally do wake up I take a moment to focus on my day and what I will accomplish.

If you're not waking up with intention or purpose then how can you measure whether or not your day was successful? We all have an end goal in mind either personally or professionally, maybe it's earning more money, growing our business, taking a vacation or cleaning out the garage. My question to you is what will you do today to move yourself closer to that goal? You shouldn't have to think to hard about it but you should be doing something everyday to get there, otherwise it will always be a someday goal.

My recommendation to help you move things along is this: Each morning when you wake up, maybe while your drinking your coffee, make a list. The list should be no longer than 6 items, and it should be written in order of importance. Things that need to get done to accomplish your goal(s). You must start on the first item and you cannot move to the second item until the first has been completed. Keep the list in your pocket, on your smart phone, wherever works best for you to be able t look at it often.  Sometimes you will be able to move through your whole list in one day and sometimes you will get one thing done and that's it. You will carry your list over to the next day and move each item up the list and add something new to the bottom. Staying focused is the key to moving forward! You will be amazed at how quickly you reach your goal when you add a little focused effort everyday.

That's all for today. I hope that I have given you some food for thought. Have a happy and productive day!