ROUTINE SUCCESS
Routine Success
Second of a Series
Ok. So you have your goals written down in a SMART manner(If not please review the post Where have you been? Where are you going?). You know what you want to achieve (S-Specific). You know when you achieve it (M-Measurable). You have a general idea what to do (A-Action Plan). You know why you want to achieve it (R-Relevant). You know the date when you want to achieve it (T-Time bound). Now what?? All the goals, and may I also add, dreams, wants, desires, aspirations, hopes will NOT come into existence unless you begin to take action.
Many goals never see reality because we are too busy. Remember that a goal is a "planned conflict with the present". Meaning that in order to achieve your goals you will need to insert the items of your action plan into your daily routine. It is called a "conflict" because the goal action is going to collide with all the other things you want or need to do. It is called "planned" because you decided to do it. Every moment of every day is a decision point. Do I work on a goal item or something else? Whether you are conscious of it or not, you make a statement of what you value most, by what you get done.
Where most goals fail is in the execution of the action plan. If we fail to take action on a goal it will begin to lose the urgency it had in the beginning. In addition all kinds of other feelings and emotions begin to pop into our daily thoughts. Here are some common emotions and the thoughts that accompany them whenever we try to make meaningful change:
1. Fear - "I never did this before"
2. Impatience - "This is taking too long"
3. Doubt - "I can't do this"
4. Laziness - "This is too much work"
5. Rationalization - "Why do I want to do that, everything is fine"
I am sure you can come up with your own list. All of these whining voices have one thing in common. They want you to stay in your comfort zone. Here is a little tip. All meaningful change happens OUTSIDE your comfort zone. Most of the time we are pulled out of our comfort zone by other people and events. Isn't it time we planned our own change for a meaningful difference??
Remember that the 'A' in SMART stands for Action Plan. The"action" part is going to be the most fluid part of your goal plan. It will be the main focus of this article. So how do we combat our natural tendency to stay in our comfort zone and effect some meaningful change in our lives by achieving our goals?? You need to make it a habit.
By "routine success" I mean you need a Success Routine. Certain steps you take every day to insure you are moving in the direction you have decided. People who consistently achieve success have mastered this very simple success routine that I am about to reveal. In fact they have so mastered this technique that they don't even think about it, they do it. In fact, you are doing it right now with all the results you are currently accomplishing. The trick is to apply the same process to those things outside the norm. Outside the comfort zone.
Step 1 Decide to act
Step 2 Take some action to achieve the result
Step 3 Evaluate whether the action brought you closer to achieving the desire
Step 4 If you haven't achieved the goal yet, change your approach and repeat the process.
With basic wants and needs it easy. For example:
1. (Decision) I am hungry, i wanna eat
2. (Take action) you look around for something to eat and find a candy bar and eat it
3. (Evaluate) I'm still hungry
4. (Change approach and repeat) Probably need to go out for pizza or do some shopping
As the above example illustrates we are already using the 4 steps of the success routine to take care of our basic needs and mundane maintenance. The challenge is to integrate these steps with the action plans of our Goals, and begin the process of achieving them. This routine needs to become a habit. In the end we determine our priorities by what we DO, not by what we PLAN to do.
Step 1 Decide
Write down every task you either need to do(because of outside forces or situations) or want to do (goal actions or other desires). This becomes your action list for the day. Each task should be a single task that can reasonably be done within the daily time frame. Large or complex tasks need to be broken down into smaller tasks and scheduled over several days. Each item needs to be prioritized with an A, B or C. The priority system uses A for vital tasks, B for Important tasks and C for "Would be nice to do tasks". Priority has nothing to do with the due date but with the relationship of that task to your goals and values.
The next step is to sequence the tasks in order of priority. Sowith all your A tasks which is the most important to you? That is your A1 task. By going through this process for the A's B's and C tasks you are creating the work plan for that day. Now in the case of a task which is time sensitive you can mark those with an asterisk(*). Those are the tasks of a work of maintenance nature which need to be done and have consequences if they are not completed today.
Step 2 Take Action
Start working the list and checking off the tasks as they are completed. When is a task completed? When you don't have to think about it anymore. This is the reason to make your tasks simple and doable in a day. Something magical begins to happen when you start to see your tasks checked off. Whether its confidence or the feeling of accomplishment or something else, there is power in getting things done.
As to the order of the tasks you work on, that is totally up to you. Your A level priorities may deal with your family which you can'taccomplish until you are home. In addition, work related prioritiesmay change because of your boss or other reasons. Either way, as youcontinue to review your list and check off the completed tasks you havea record of how you spent your time. Which leads us to the nextstep....
Step 3 Evaluate Your Actions
So how did you do with your list?? I can almost guarantee you had more "tasks" than "day" to completethem. If not, then you are under scheduling your day. You need tomove out of your comfort zone and turn the heat up a little because youwill not accomplish more, until you push yourself to accomplish more. The best time to evaluate is either at the end of the day or when yourepeat the process at the start of the next day when you buildtomorrows list.
So what DID you accomplish?? Were the quick hit B and C taskstaken care of at the expense of the more important A tasks? This dailyevaluation process is often skipped by many people. This is because itshows what was actually done rather than what was planned. Realitybites us sometimes, especially when we think we have it all undercontrol. This evaluation process needs to motivate us to do somethingdifferent. Which leads to....
Step 4 Change Approach and Do it all again, but differently!
Asthe saying goes "Tomorrow is another day" so what will you dodifferent? First you will rewrite your daily list for today's tasks. Anything that wasn't done, gets moved to the next day unless you candelegate it to somebody else or just drop it entirely. Now, justbecause something was an A task yesterday doesn't make it the sametoday. All the tasks need to be prioritized again, but this time withthe self knowledge we acquired back in step 3 along with the newpriorities and mundane maintenance of today.
A wise man once said "Insanity is doing the same thing every day,and expecting a different result". So STOP THE INSANITY! Learn fromyour past actions ( I won't call them mistakes) and start moving inthe direction of your goals. You will be glad you did.
Second of a Series
Ok. So you have your goals written down in a SMART manner(If not please review the post Where have you been? Where are you going?). You know what you want to achieve (S-Specific). You know when you achieve it (M-Measurable). You have a general idea what to do (A-Action Plan). You know why you want to achieve it (R-Relevant). You know the date when you want to achieve it (T-Time bound). Now what?? All the goals, and may I also add, dreams, wants, desires, aspirations, hopes will NOT come into existence unless you begin to take action.
Many goals never see reality because we are too busy. Remember that a goal is a "planned conflict with the present". Meaning that in order to achieve your goals you will need to insert the items of your action plan into your daily routine. It is called a "conflict" because the goal action is going to collide with all the other things you want or need to do. It is called "planned" because you decided to do it. Every moment of every day is a decision point. Do I work on a goal item or something else? Whether you are conscious of it or not, you make a statement of what you value most, by what you get done.
Where most goals fail is in the execution of the action plan. If we fail to take action on a goal it will begin to lose the urgency it had in the beginning. In addition all kinds of other feelings and emotions begin to pop into our daily thoughts. Here are some common emotions and the thoughts that accompany them whenever we try to make meaningful change:
1. Fear - "I never did this before"
2. Impatience - "This is taking too long"
3. Doubt - "I can't do this"
4. Laziness - "This is too much work"
5. Rationalization - "Why do I want to do that, everything is fine"
I am sure you can come up with your own list. All of these whining voices have one thing in common. They want you to stay in your comfort zone. Here is a little tip. All meaningful change happens OUTSIDE your comfort zone. Most of the time we are pulled out of our comfort zone by other people and events. Isn't it time we planned our own change for a meaningful difference??
Remember that the 'A' in SMART stands for Action Plan. The"action" part is going to be the most fluid part of your goal plan. It will be the main focus of this article. So how do we combat our natural tendency to stay in our comfort zone and effect some meaningful change in our lives by achieving our goals?? You need to make it a habit.
By "routine success" I mean you need a Success Routine. Certain steps you take every day to insure you are moving in the direction you have decided. People who consistently achieve success have mastered this very simple success routine that I am about to reveal. In fact they have so mastered this technique that they don't even think about it, they do it. In fact, you are doing it right now with all the results you are currently accomplishing. The trick is to apply the same process to those things outside the norm. Outside the comfort zone.
Step 1 Decide to act
Step 2 Take some action to achieve the result
Step 3 Evaluate whether the action brought you closer to achieving the desire
Step 4 If you haven't achieved the goal yet, change your approach and repeat the process.
With basic wants and needs it easy. For example:
1. (Decision) I am hungry, i wanna eat
2. (Take action) you look around for something to eat and find a candy bar and eat it
3. (Evaluate) I'm still hungry
4. (Change approach and repeat) Probably need to go out for pizza or do some shopping
As the above example illustrates we are already using the 4 steps of the success routine to take care of our basic needs and mundane maintenance. The challenge is to integrate these steps with the action plans of our Goals, and begin the process of achieving them. This routine needs to become a habit. In the end we determine our priorities by what we DO, not by what we PLAN to do.
Step 1 Decide
Write down every task you either need to do(because of outside forces or situations) or want to do (goal actions or other desires). This becomes your action list for the day. Each task should be a single task that can reasonably be done within the daily time frame. Large or complex tasks need to be broken down into smaller tasks and scheduled over several days. Each item needs to be prioritized with an A, B or C. The priority system uses A for vital tasks, B for Important tasks and C for "Would be nice to do tasks". Priority has nothing to do with the due date but with the relationship of that task to your goals and values.
The next step is to sequence the tasks in order of priority. Sowith all your A tasks which is the most important to you? That is your A1 task. By going through this process for the A's B's and C tasks you are creating the work plan for that day. Now in the case of a task which is time sensitive you can mark those with an asterisk(*). Those are the tasks of a work of maintenance nature which need to be done and have consequences if they are not completed today.
Step 2 Take Action
Start working the list and checking off the tasks as they are completed. When is a task completed? When you don't have to think about it anymore. This is the reason to make your tasks simple and doable in a day. Something magical begins to happen when you start to see your tasks checked off. Whether its confidence or the feeling of accomplishment or something else, there is power in getting things done.
As to the order of the tasks you work on, that is totally up to you. Your A level priorities may deal with your family which you can'taccomplish until you are home. In addition, work related prioritiesmay change because of your boss or other reasons. Either way, as youcontinue to review your list and check off the completed tasks you havea record of how you spent your time. Which leads us to the nextstep....
Step 3 Evaluate Your Actions
So how did you do with your list?? I can almost guarantee you had more "tasks" than "day" to completethem. If not, then you are under scheduling your day. You need tomove out of your comfort zone and turn the heat up a little because youwill not accomplish more, until you push yourself to accomplish more. The best time to evaluate is either at the end of the day or when yourepeat the process at the start of the next day when you buildtomorrows list.
So what DID you accomplish?? Were the quick hit B and C taskstaken care of at the expense of the more important A tasks? This dailyevaluation process is often skipped by many people. This is because itshows what was actually done rather than what was planned. Realitybites us sometimes, especially when we think we have it all undercontrol. This evaluation process needs to motivate us to do somethingdifferent. Which leads to....
Step 4 Change Approach and Do it all again, but differently!
Asthe saying goes "Tomorrow is another day" so what will you dodifferent? First you will rewrite your daily list for today's tasks. Anything that wasn't done, gets moved to the next day unless you candelegate it to somebody else or just drop it entirely. Now, justbecause something was an A task yesterday doesn't make it the sametoday. All the tasks need to be prioritized again, but this time withthe self knowledge we acquired back in step 3 along with the newpriorities and mundane maintenance of today.
A wise man once said "Insanity is doing the same thing every day,and expecting a different result". So STOP THE INSANITY! Learn fromyour past actions ( I won't call them mistakes) and start moving inthe direction of your goals. You will be glad you did.
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