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Setting goals in life is very important. Without goals, life drifts the way it wants. Things in your personal, professional, social, and financial life remain out of your control. But once you have goals, your subconscious power supports you to take action for achieving them.
For achieving goals, your journey towards these goals matters. This journey passes through a time frame, involving a series of actions that you plan to take. For any long-term or big goal, you have to make several small goals. And to achieve these small intermittent goals, you have to plan your available time for the day. If you start your day keeping goals in mind, by default your actions will be aligned towards them. And even if some action is missed on that day, you will be charged for the next day morning. The below excerpt is from “The Prosperity Principles” by Joel Fotinos.
“It’s not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The question is, what are we busy about?”– Henry David Thoreau
How You Start Your Day
Do you wake up in the morning, and think, “Oh god, another day, I wish I could just stay in bed.” And then you watch the morning news while you make your coffee, read the newspaper, spend some time on social media, mourn all the bad news, and then wonder why you aren’t feeling more upbeat and positive.
This is how millions of people begin their day. But it’s the exact opposite of how most self-made millionaires begin their day.
What would happen if you woke up, and first thing, you read the goals that you had written out and kept by your bedside? Next, you ate a healthy breakfast while you reviewed the actions that you need to make for the day. Following that, you decided which action was the most difficult, or the one that you dread doing the most, and then did that action first. If you began your day in this way, how do you think the rest of your day would go? Chances are you would be rested, focused, inspired, and after doing that most difficult thing first, you will have created incredible momentum for the rest of the day.
Exercise1: In your journal or a similar application on any digital device, write what you do first thing in the morning.
Exercise2: Now write down how you would like to change your morning routine so that it focuses you and better supports you as you work toward your goals.
Action Step: Tomorrow morning start your new routine. If you have to wake up a little earlier to do so, then remember to set your clock.
How You End Your Day
It’s also important how you end your day. While starting your day off positively and focused on your goals will create great momentum during the day, how you end your day can help you toward your goals as well.
One self-made millionaire described her bedtime routine to Joel Fotinos. Here’s her routine:
- Begin winding down at around 8 p.m.
- Go to the bedroom around 10 p.m., and reflect on the day.
- Note the things I did well.
- Note what I didn’t do, avoided, or that didn’t turn out the way I wanted.
- Think of some actions to take the following morning.
- Read my written goals that I keep by my bedside.
- Fall asleep thinking of the positive statements that supported me in reaching my goals.
You can implement this or a similar process. Falling asleep in such a positive way will infuse your subconscious with focus and positivity. It also helps to create an atmosphere of positivity when you wake up.
Exercise3: In your journal or a similar application on any digital device, describe your bedtime routine.
Exercise4: How can you alter your bedtime routine to support you in positive ways?
Action Step: Start this new routine tonight.
What You Do Between Waking Up and Going to Bed
“When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.” – Confucius
Of course, the most important time of your day, in terms of reaching your goal, is throughout your daily activities. How do you plan on moving toward your goal over the course of the day? Here are some ideas for structuring your day to do that:
- Do your new morning routine, as you wrote above.
- Remember to write your actions, and then do the hardest one first, which will create momentum.
- Continue to do the actions you wrote on your list for that day.
- Make sure to have healthy snacks around, and take time for lunch.
- Every so often takes a break, takes a quick walk around the block, or spends some time in nature.
- If possible, don’t stay signed in to your email all day—the email will distract you from other activities. Take 15-minute email breaks, where you sign in to your email, answer messages, and then sign off.
- Save internet browsing and social media as a reward for completing the day’s tasks.
- If you have a meeting, stay on topic and keep it as concise as possible.
- Keep your positive statements (auto-suggestions) on sticky notes throughout your home and workspace.
What other ways can you think of to support yourself during the day as you work toward your goals?
