Step#4 Take one day at a time
The number one secret of goal achievement is this: daily incremental progress. This one idea when implemented consistently can create magic in your life.
Time is a great equalizer. Regardless of our backgrounds, skills, and abilities, we all have the same amount of time—24 hours a day.
Our success lies in what we put in these 24 hours. We can fill them with activities that move forward toward our goals or with activities that keep us busy being busy—without making any progress. It’s always a choice, a choice that seems invisible, even though it’s glaring at us every moment.
Your day is like a brick on a wall. If you focus on the wall in its entirety, you’ll be terrified. It feels overwhelming, impractical, and impossible.
Shift your focus to the brick. Your job is to daily lay one brick at a time as mindfully as you can. And repeat this the next day. Over and over and over. Success is found in daily improvements. When you focus on one brick at a time, life becomes easy. You know a brick that’s set well today is adding up to something big later. It’s a matter of time.
Whatever goals you have on your list, break them down into meaningful milestones. And then define daily activities to make progress, bit by bit, day by day. Guard these daily activities with fierce care like you protect expensive jewelry. Otherwise, distractions will sway you hither and thither, chasing a new shiny object every few weeks.
Your goals are big rocks in your daily time jar. Make space for them. Put them in the jar first, before you put in anything else.
Then you pour other things: gravel, sand, and water. Surprisingly these will fill spaces between these rocks and somehow settle in the jar. They’re flexible when big rocks are at the bottom.
Try the other way, first pour gravel, sand, and water, before putting the rocks; you’ll be left with no space for big rocks at all. I remember this demonstration by Dr. Stephen Covey in a training video in 2003. It was a moment of epiphany for me—the time jar was a great analogy to internalize this idea which is now tattooed in my consciousness.
I integrated the concept of a time jar into my life. It made a huge impact on my goals. I hope you’ll keep this analogy as a reminder of how to plan your day. Nothing comes at the expense of your big rocks. You define the “big rocks” in your day, no one else will do it for you.
Once you define the big rocks, it’s liberating. You’re no longer a candle in the wind. You’re not a cork floating on water. You’re a torpedo, continuously moving toward a target—your target.
I have lived my life both ways: as a cork and a torpedo. Hands down, torpedo life is blissful. Goal-oriented life is a combination of achievement and fulfillment.
If you like journaling, you can write your big rocks for the day right after you wake up. They can be based on your medium-to-long-term goals.
If I’m training for a race, one of my big rocks for the day would be to finish my workout before seven in the morning. I would feel the energy rush after my run. I would feel like a winner since I first put the big rocks in the jar. The rest will settle in the jar on their own.
In summary, let’s review the two steps to master your day and create masterpiece days!
Define your “big rocks” for the day.
Prioritize them in your day. Do them as soon as you can. Do not push them later in the day.
We all have high energy during some hours of the day. Find your high-energy window. Do your most important work (a.k.a big rocks) in this window. With this strategy applied consistently, you’ll make daily progress on your goals. Each day will be a perfect brick on the wall.
Remember, your focus is one brick at a time. Do it with intention and attention. Over time, you’ll see a well-built wall. The wall of goals of your life! A wall filled with your meaningful achievements and deep fulfillment! We all deserve and desire that wall. We can build that wall one brick at a time, one day at a time.
“You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.” - John C. Maxwell