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Two weeks ago I made executing my vision my primary purpose for each day. On the second day of doing this my slowlane boss asked me if I was trying to get a raise. The difference in my effectiveness was so drastic and immediate that my boss noticed in less than 48 hours.
I suspect for many if we actually did what we said to ourselves we were going to do we wouldn't even need this forum. We'd all just wake up, execute, and be billionaires by now.
The steps below will help you execute and keep promises to yourself. When you tell yourself you are going to do something, if you have a vision, you will have much higher odds of actually doing it. I think the mental energy that the planning saves is what really makes the following day an effective one. I think it was Brian Tracy that said 10 minute of planning saves 1 hour of work.
If you want to accomplish more then you need to plan. Have a vision. Here is what has worked for me.
If you haven't ever tried to execute your tomorrows vision, give a try everyday a for a week and post your experience and anything you did differently that made you more effective.
1). HAVE A VISION OF YOUR PERFECT TOMORROW.
No, not a year from now, but literally, tomorrow.
In order for YOU to make tomorrow a perfect day, what actions do YOU take? This vision is about you, things that you can do, your actions. This is not to be a vision of things happening to you outside of your control, but things only within your control. When you wake up, what you wear, what you get done, what time do you things, etc.
What the hell is your day going to look like from waking up to going to bed? What actions will you be taking? It needs to be detailed. What are you wearing, do you brush your teeth or your hair first? What time do you get to work or open up your emails? What do you eat for lunch? what time? For dinner? What time? What time do you arrive at the gym, what exercises and reps do you do? What time do you leave? Do you have a Gatorade or a water with you? Its 6 pm, what are you doing? What are you doing at 7 pm? You have laundry to do, what time do you get it started? When do you get into bed and turn out the lights?...
Every detail of your day should be included in your vision, and you must construct your visions such that each task is trivial and easy to achieve in its own right, but doing each together in a single day will occupy you from the moment you wake to the moment you go to sleep.
2). WRITE IT DOWN
Write it down in detail. Write it in FIRST PERSON. It may take a page or two. This is hugely important because writing it down forces you to focus on it and to actually decide. It is what transforms a thought into a more tangible decision. As you write down this vision in first person, you will be making decisions about your day. When you make decisions now, you will be saving yourself a lot of mental energy tomorrow.
Next, read your vision back to yourself. How does it sound. Do you think you could do more, or your day would be better if you took a different step instead. Now is the time to alter it.
Once you have your vision, write down each action taken into a list and write a time next to major events. The time is what keeps you accountable and on track. Example (note "/" denotes different examples):
7 am Wake, shower, groom
eat
check email
grab lunch and gym bag
8 am arrive at work/class/fastlane/whatever
12 pm 30 minute lunch break
4:40 pm leave work/whatever
5:00 pm arrive at gym/yoga/whatever
6 pm arrive home, cook, eat, cleanup, chores
7:30 fastlane hustle (contact 3 suppliers/customers/draft sales copy) / hobby (complete 3 rounds of piano drills) / kids time / whatever for 2.5 hours
10 pm prep for tomorrow (pick clothes, prep lunch, pack gym bag)
10:30 pm in bed
As silly as it seems to have a line for showering and eating, and arriving at work, the fact is these things keep me focused on my vision. A perfect day requires all these happening within a certain time span and having them there with the times lets me track my reality relative to my vision for my perfect day. I put a check next to items that I complete, and if I don't complete it I put an X. If I complete something at a later time than I had envisioned, I write down the actual time of completion as a reference to either highlight how much I can improve or either help develop a more achievable vision in the future.
3). EXECUTE
Now put this list next to your bed when you go to sleep. When you wake up the next morning, just start executing it and going down the list. You should be on auto pilot... like program just reading one line of code after the next. Be willing to sacrifice something in order to execute and be willing to adapt your plan or skip something if an opportunity arises that makes the vision even better. Sacrifice something by skipping that party so you can get to sleep at the time you said you would... or improve your vision by skipping the gym to have coffee with an old buddy that was in the neighborhood unexpectedly.
4). REPEAT
Now just do this everyday. It should take a lot less time once you have done it once. You will already have a decent vision, and won't need to write it out in as complete detail. Just keep writing the list of actions to stay focused each day, and one day at a time.
I strongly recommended also spending time each day preparing for tomorrow. Do things today that make execution of tomorrow easier, and include them in your vision.
Pick your clothes, prep your lunch, pack your gym bag, etc the night before. Going to the airport in the morning? Pack your suitcase and even load it into the car the night before. Doing these easy tasks to prepare for tomorrow just makes it go so much more smoothly, like a well oiled machine. The planning and the preparations are like the greasing of the bearings and gears of your tomorrow. It takes maybe 30 minutes, and it may seem inconvenient or unnecessary, but for me planning and prepping for the next day makes an enormous difference in my performance. I accomplish so much more the next day when I do it, and I suspect you will too.
I suspect for many if we actually did what we said to ourselves we were going to do we wouldn't even need this forum. We'd all just wake up, execute, and be billionaires by now.
The steps below will help you execute and keep promises to yourself. When you tell yourself you are going to do something, if you have a vision, you will have much higher odds of actually doing it. I think the mental energy that the planning saves is what really makes the following day an effective one. I think it was Brian Tracy that said 10 minute of planning saves 1 hour of work.
If you want to accomplish more then you need to plan. Have a vision. Here is what has worked for me.
If you haven't ever tried to execute your tomorrows vision, give a try everyday a for a week and post your experience and anything you did differently that made you more effective.
1). HAVE A VISION OF YOUR PERFECT TOMORROW.
No, not a year from now, but literally, tomorrow.
In order for YOU to make tomorrow a perfect day, what actions do YOU take? This vision is about you, things that you can do, your actions. This is not to be a vision of things happening to you outside of your control, but things only within your control. When you wake up, what you wear, what you get done, what time do you things, etc.
What the hell is your day going to look like from waking up to going to bed? What actions will you be taking? It needs to be detailed. What are you wearing, do you brush your teeth or your hair first? What time do you get to work or open up your emails? What do you eat for lunch? what time? For dinner? What time? What time do you arrive at the gym, what exercises and reps do you do? What time do you leave? Do you have a Gatorade or a water with you? Its 6 pm, what are you doing? What are you doing at 7 pm? You have laundry to do, what time do you get it started? When do you get into bed and turn out the lights?...
Every detail of your day should be included in your vision, and you must construct your visions such that each task is trivial and easy to achieve in its own right, but doing each together in a single day will occupy you from the moment you wake to the moment you go to sleep.
2). WRITE IT DOWN
Write it down in detail. Write it in FIRST PERSON. It may take a page or two. This is hugely important because writing it down forces you to focus on it and to actually decide. It is what transforms a thought into a more tangible decision. As you write down this vision in first person, you will be making decisions about your day. When you make decisions now, you will be saving yourself a lot of mental energy tomorrow.
Next, read your vision back to yourself. How does it sound. Do you think you could do more, or your day would be better if you took a different step instead. Now is the time to alter it.
Once you have your vision, write down each action taken into a list and write a time next to major events. The time is what keeps you accountable and on track. Example (note "/" denotes different examples):
7 am Wake, shower, groom
eat
check email
grab lunch and gym bag
8 am arrive at work/class/fastlane/whatever
12 pm 30 minute lunch break
4:40 pm leave work/whatever
5:00 pm arrive at gym/yoga/whatever
6 pm arrive home, cook, eat, cleanup, chores
7:30 fastlane hustle (contact 3 suppliers/customers/draft sales copy) / hobby (complete 3 rounds of piano drills) / kids time / whatever for 2.5 hours
10 pm prep for tomorrow (pick clothes, prep lunch, pack gym bag)
10:30 pm in bed
As silly as it seems to have a line for showering and eating, and arriving at work, the fact is these things keep me focused on my vision. A perfect day requires all these happening within a certain time span and having them there with the times lets me track my reality relative to my vision for my perfect day. I put a check next to items that I complete, and if I don't complete it I put an X. If I complete something at a later time than I had envisioned, I write down the actual time of completion as a reference to either highlight how much I can improve or either help develop a more achievable vision in the future.
3). EXECUTE
Now put this list next to your bed when you go to sleep. When you wake up the next morning, just start executing it and going down the list. You should be on auto pilot... like program just reading one line of code after the next. Be willing to sacrifice something in order to execute and be willing to adapt your plan or skip something if an opportunity arises that makes the vision even better. Sacrifice something by skipping that party so you can get to sleep at the time you said you would... or improve your vision by skipping the gym to have coffee with an old buddy that was in the neighborhood unexpectedly.
4). REPEAT
Now just do this everyday. It should take a lot less time once you have done it once. You will already have a decent vision, and won't need to write it out in as complete detail. Just keep writing the list of actions to stay focused each day, and one day at a time.
I strongly recommended also spending time each day preparing for tomorrow. Do things today that make execution of tomorrow easier, and include them in your vision.
Pick your clothes, prep your lunch, pack your gym bag, etc the night before. Going to the airport in the morning? Pack your suitcase and even load it into the car the night before. Doing these easy tasks to prepare for tomorrow just makes it go so much more smoothly, like a well oiled machine. The planning and the preparations are like the greasing of the bearings and gears of your tomorrow. It takes maybe 30 minutes, and it may seem inconvenient or unnecessary, but for me planning and prepping for the next day makes an enormous difference in my performance. I accomplish so much more the next day when I do it, and I suspect you will too.
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