A Year to Live

Joe Marr, Sandler Training Center - Ann Arbor

www.sandlerannarbor.com

734-821-4830

A Year to Live
Imagine you just received word from above that this is your last year-what would you do?  Would you look at the world, live, work or breathe differently?  What if today you knew that somewhere about August 2007, when you are your current age plus one, you will be "checking out", how would you make the most of this last year?  Since you can't be sure that this isn't actually your last year, whether or not it's true, it's a good idea to live today, and for the rest of your life, like there's only 364 days to go. Here are suggestions to help make most of your "last year".

Cherish-it
Pushing fifty I am coming to realize that this seemingly limitless supply of time is slipping away.  People have actually bragged to me about their "great job", adding that all they have to do is punch-in and literally do nothing for 8 hours. This attitude brings to mind the question, just exactly which life are they planning to make the best of? Whenever we find ourselves slipping into coasting mode, we should check ourselves and ask: "What can I do in this moment to contribute to the goals I hold dear for myself and my family?"  And: "Is the thing I am doing right now contributing to, or distracting me from the goals I hold dear for myself and my family?"  

Journal-it
A proven way to cherish time is to manage and track your life and activity for quantity and quality on a daily basis.  Most successful people have developed the discipline of reviewing and logging the previous day's activities against their day plan, while setting the plan for the coming day, a system we call "cook book".  Truly effective people also take the time to assess the quality of their attitude and interactions with people while executing each day's activities.  This is a process that allows one to build constructive self-awareness, selflessness, wisdom and inner peace.

Week-it
It also pays to consider on a weekly basis, whether you are using each day in a week wisely.  On Friday, or perhaps Monday each week ask yourself, "How many days last week were highly productive days?"  For visual impact, put a star in every day of the previous week that were highly productive on a wall calendar, and consider what it will take to increase the number of stars in the upcoming week.  If you find that you can honestly give yourself only 1-4 stars each week, then this awareness will help you strive to improve your weekly "star-count".  A simple procedure taking very little time, that could yield personal productivity of between 20 - 500%!

Month-it
It also pays to stand back and consider your cumulative performance by keeping a running log of daily activity in a running monthly at-a-glance format. This will allow you to step-up your activity for the rest of the month to make up for any substandard days within that month, and keep up with the activity required to meet your monthly goals.

Live-it
I've got a year to live: Am I doing at this moment something that takes me closer or further away from living to my potential?  Most people like to try and manage their life by results, by what comes out in the numbers after completing a period.  This is flawed because results are looking at performance in a rear-view mirror.  While history is important to consider and draw from while devising plans for tomorrow, planning, tracking and refining your activity on a daily basis actually shapes and determines your future reality. And since we'll never regret not having screwed-off one more day at a "great job", it pays to develop the disciplines to use every day like it is precious-because it is!

Joe Marr is a public speaker, sales and management consultant and trainer, and runs the Sandler Training Center – Ann Arbor.  To reach him call: (734) 821-4830 or visit his website at: www.sandlerannarbor.com

© 2010 Marr Professional Development Corporation