One of the most common questions I hear is "Jack, how do you get so much done?" In this article, I share three of my top strategies for tackling goals:
Center and visualize. I start each day with a meditation to help me stay grounded. Before I get up from my meditation cushion, I mentally rehearse my day, visualizing and feeling myself staying focused, working efficiently and being productive. This helps to activate the "Law of Attraction," lining up inner and outer resources to make my day go smoothly.
Throughout the day, I do "refreshers." Periodically throughout the day, I'll close my eyes and focus on my breathing for a few minutes. This helps me center and restore a sense of calm. In addition, whenever I begin a new segment on my schedule, I'll take a few seconds to visualize that section of my day going smoothly. When sitting down to write, I'll visualize my writing going well. When I prepare to make phone calls, I'll visualize my conversations going well and achieving the desired results.
Keep score. In order to stay on track toward achieving goals, it's important to keep score. This means assessing, each day, whether or not you've done what was necessary to for goal success. For score-keeping to be effective, you must keep your goals and score-keeping tool where you're going to see it. If you can't easily see your score, you can't reasonably assess where you are.
There are a number of ways to keep score. When you were little, your parents or teachers may have helped you keep score with a sticker chart, giving you a sticker every time you finished your homework, for example. It was effective then and it can be effective now. You could also use a simple checklist with your various to-do items and deadlines. Checking each item off as it's completed provides a sense of accomplishment.
I've also discovered that there are several phone apps that work well for keeping score. If your smartphone is your constant companion, it would be a wise move to put your scorekeeping on your phone so that it's always handy. There are a number of apps available for this purpose.
Celebrate milestones. Celebrating your progress along the way is essential to staying motivated. If you set a goal that takes nine months to achieve, it can be hard to stay motivated because there's no incremental payoff. So build in milestones to celebrate along the way.
If your goal is to lose weight, celebrate every two pounds you lose. If you're writing a book, celebrate every 20 pages. If your goal is to book 35 speaking gigs, celebrate every 5. Celebrating milestones keeps your inner child excited, because you feel rewarded for your efforts.
