Happy new year! I hope you enjoyed the holidays, and were able to make each day count. What did you do to celebrate?
It’s a genuine question. You see, it’s important to learn how to manage yourself well, so that you spend your time daily on what truly matters. You want to stay on a path that gets you where you want to go at the end of each year. It’s not about time management, but self-management.
I’ve been writing about this in recent posts. Here is another technique for you to use to make each day count in 2020.
Write down two or three goals you want to achieve at work for the year. Then, write down two areas on which you want to focus in your personal life (i.e., family, sports, interests). Limit your list to five focal areas so you can realistically accomplish them.
High Five
Most of your daily tasks should fit into these five areas: your high fives. Allow another 5% of your time for life’s miscellany. This approach allows you to stay on track each day, and to recognize and congratulate yourself when you do so. If you’re spending time on tasks that fall outside your focal areas, recognize them as distractions that pull you away from your goals.
Take five minutes at the beginning and end of each day to plan and review. Some experts also recommend periodically checking in during the day. Peter Bregman in his book 18 Minutes recommends setting a timer to go off each hour. In that way you ask yourself, “Is what I’m doing right now part of my path that will get me to my goals?”
You see, such frequent reminders help your subconscious sound the alarm if you veer off track. It also avoids the trap of getting sucked into time-wasters that are unproductive.
Keep It Simple
Many people enthusiastically write out elaborate plans, and their momentum invariably fizzles when it’s time to implement them. Instead, keep is simple, and begin now. If it’s hard to get started or sustain energy, consider hiring an experienced coach. Working with others often hastens success.
Choose one task that will make the greatest difference in your life and do it—no matter what. Then, quite naturally, you will start to incorporate other changes. With time, you’ll find that your life moves in a purposeful direction.
What are your thoughts about this? What is your plan to make each day count in 2020? I’d love to hear from you. I’d love to hear from you. You can call me at 561-582-6060, let’s talk. And as always, I can be reached here, or on LinkedIn.
