Greetings from your friendly neighborhood Murderer.™
I can't stress enough the importance of handwriting your "to-do list" and goals daily. Done correctly, this puts clearly in front of you what must be accomplished today, in what order, and to what end.
Unfortunately, the holiday season can clobber your motivation with its overload of cheer and excess. I speak from experience. Like, this year experience. I am totally not taking my own medicine and there it is on Front Street.
I keep saying, I'll pick it up at the start of the year! And making excuses and concessions with no shame. If I were to simply pick up a notebook, and write down the things I need to do NOW (sure you can put them off till later, but that's not what winners do), and the reasons why I'm doing them (i.e. what I aim to achieve through their completion; long and short term) - I've just gotten myself laser-focused.
It's these lulls in productivity that separate the successful from the unsuccessful. That's not to say I'm not successful ;) but this lapse I've been taking is only holding me back from reaching what I've set out to attain.
You, and I, must hold ourselves accountable. Commit to a high standard, and watch as we achieve higher and higher levels of success. All because we wrote some things down in the morning, every day. How silly is it not to do that?!
I'm going to write my list right now...
THINGS TO DO TODAY
1 Write Blog Post [X] 9:00 am
2 Spend Time With Family [X] 10:00
3 Work Day Job [ ] 12:00-4:00
4 Make Some Beats [ ] 4:00-6:00
5 Prospect For Clients [ ] 6:00-7:30
6 Go For a Nice Walk With Family [ ] 7:30-8:30
WHAT WILL THIS ACCOMPLISH
1 Keep me in touch with people of like mind to share ideas and experience.
2 Keep me connected to why I must work and produce and what life is really about.
3 Pay the bills baby.
4 Constant practice ensures highest performance, which betters both my business and me as a person.
5 You're only as good as your last sale.
6 Exercise keeps you fit and feeds oxygen to the brain - stimulating creativity. And family time! :D
GOAL STATEMENTS
I am a successful & financially independent music producer & entrepreneur.
I live in a beautiful, but modest home on the water with my family.
We are all in perfect health, and live in wonderful happiness & harmony together.
I do what I love every day, with the people I love, in the place that I love.
.... ..... ....
So you see, I wrote 6 tasks in the example when in reality, your handwritten list would be better to include every task of your day, scheduled to the minute. Meals, even, should be written in. Time spent reading or listening to education materials should be scheduled. This serves to keep you on task, but also to give you a feeling of accomplishment as you check off each item when it is finished.
The next portion was the "to what end" piece. Why is completing these tasks beneficial to you? "What's in it for me?" These could be both long and short term. Putting this on paper makes it crystal clear in your mind why doing these tasks is important. When you see what you're getting out of it, it makes it that much more difficult to leave any of the tasks undone.
Finally, goal statements. Always write goal statements as if you've already attained the goal. This puts positive energy "out there" as well as keeping you in a pleasant mind state as you imagine your accomplishments. Slowly, over time and with undying persistence, these goals will be achieved, and replaced with fresh new goals.
To wake up and just float through the day with no purpose is just not acceptable any more. Be task oriented, knowing what you must do, when, and why.
Don't let sleeping off a hang over from too much eggnog derail your train to success. I'm telling you this, but I'm really telling myself. After all - I could be working right now. lolz.
Till next time.
-Mike
