Technically this forum's subheading is Progress/Process/Execution threads, so this is a process thread.
MJ sells these on his website:
Here: http://www.viperionpublishing.com/productivity
For a long time, I thought I could get by with just a calendar, but then I decided to try these out. I've been using them consistently for months now, and they revealed a pretty considerable weakness in my execution.
At the top is a line for "My One Thing To Do: The absolute ONE THING you can do TODAY to achieve your long-term goal." Then, on the side, there are boxes for Weekly, Monthly, and Yearly Goals, which will hopefully coalesce into each other.
However, I'm not a very careful reader. What I did for weeks was what I've been in a habit of doing ever since a few months after I found FLF: I used the top line for the one thing that I needed to do to prevent my world from unraveling that day. The contract that had to be drawn up, the website that had to be done, the call that had to be made all the way through to the CEO of dealership X or the whole thing was a bust. It was only after a few months of being disappointed with my progress and treading water for weeks that I realized something: I wasn't listening to the sheet.
Yes, my "one thing" was the one thing I absolutely had to do today, without fail. However, it was rare that the one thing contributed more than marginally to my long-term goal.
The failures came in two forms:
The first was that other things in my life, like consulting or general house work, would become a pain point faster than my Fastlane because in those I was accountable to others (contract-ees, wife), whereas in my Fastlane plan I am only beholden to myself. I would have never come to this realization without these lists. Everybody in life will try to schedule you so your game plan is last and theirs is first. You will also be "sales pressured," by which I mean your family or friends will try to put anything that isn't actively giving you a paycheck into the back seat. "Oh, you just released a marketing video that generated no sales? Guess you didn't really do anything today." It's an extension of the slow-lane or sidewalk mindset where you need definite and immediate rewards for activities for them to be worthwhile. I'd be on step 1000 of the treadmill but only on step 2 of the Fastlane journey, after months.
The second kind of failure was in not synergizing the daily activity with my real goals. If something not related to my fastlane was constantly showing up somewhere (the way fitness activity or my big house maintenance projects were on the bottom of the sheet) of my own volition, did I have a goal that I hadn't listed on my yearly plan? Yes.
It helped me coalesce a group of discordant activities into a coherent set of goals. Now my "one thing" is something that's actually building towards a lasting goal for myself. The bonus is that I don't even have to force myself to think, "don't list the one thing that's screaming for attention, but the one thing that will most help your fastlane."
Now, they're usually the same. Thanks MJ.
MJ sells these on his website:
Here: http://www.viperionpublishing.com/productivity
For a long time, I thought I could get by with just a calendar, but then I decided to try these out. I've been using them consistently for months now, and they revealed a pretty considerable weakness in my execution.
At the top is a line for "My One Thing To Do: The absolute ONE THING you can do TODAY to achieve your long-term goal." Then, on the side, there are boxes for Weekly, Monthly, and Yearly Goals, which will hopefully coalesce into each other.
However, I'm not a very careful reader. What I did for weeks was what I've been in a habit of doing ever since a few months after I found FLF: I used the top line for the one thing that I needed to do to prevent my world from unraveling that day. The contract that had to be drawn up, the website that had to be done, the call that had to be made all the way through to the CEO of dealership X or the whole thing was a bust. It was only after a few months of being disappointed with my progress and treading water for weeks that I realized something: I wasn't listening to the sheet.
Yes, my "one thing" was the one thing I absolutely had to do today, without fail. However, it was rare that the one thing contributed more than marginally to my long-term goal.
The failures came in two forms:
The first was that other things in my life, like consulting or general house work, would become a pain point faster than my Fastlane because in those I was accountable to others (contract-ees, wife), whereas in my Fastlane plan I am only beholden to myself. I would have never come to this realization without these lists. Everybody in life will try to schedule you so your game plan is last and theirs is first. You will also be "sales pressured," by which I mean your family or friends will try to put anything that isn't actively giving you a paycheck into the back seat. "Oh, you just released a marketing video that generated no sales? Guess you didn't really do anything today." It's an extension of the slow-lane or sidewalk mindset where you need definite and immediate rewards for activities for them to be worthwhile. I'd be on step 1000 of the treadmill but only on step 2 of the Fastlane journey, after months.
The second kind of failure was in not synergizing the daily activity with my real goals. If something not related to my fastlane was constantly showing up somewhere (the way fitness activity or my big house maintenance projects were on the bottom of the sheet) of my own volition, did I have a goal that I hadn't listed on my yearly plan? Yes.
It helped me coalesce a group of discordant activities into a coherent set of goals. Now my "one thing" is something that's actually building towards a lasting goal for myself. The bonus is that I don't even have to force myself to think, "don't list the one thing that's screaming for attention, but the one thing that will most help your fastlane."
Now, they're usually the same. Thanks MJ.
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