Low priority jobs may be more fun to do, but, by definition, they seldom contribute much to your long-range goals.
Before you take up the next task, pause to review. Make sure it's the next highest one remaining on your priority list.
Today's TQ Challenge: Do What's Important Next -- Regardless of Difficulty.
The next item on your prioritized list of things to do needs to be promptly completed -- or it wouldn't be on your list in the first place. Don't go around it. You waste time and energy when you avoid doing what you know you should do. Arrange items on your to-do list in order of importance, then start at the top and work down. Make it a rule: never purposely skip an item just because you don't feel like doing it.
"Take a lesson from the mosquito. She never waits for an opening -- she makes one." ~ Kirk Kirkpatrick
Read Today's TQ, and find out how to improve this aspect of your Prioritize Color.
Follow a checklist to assure yourself that the procedures necessary to accomplish your project or task will be performed as smoothly as possible without forgetting essential steps.
It's easier to see what's NOT there when you have a list that is missing a checkmark.
Today's TQ Challenge: Minimize Mistakes by Following Checklists.
Everybody makes mistakes. That's okay. But repeating the same kind of mistakes is not. Checklists are lifesavers when it comes to getting everything done correctly the first time. Ever gone camping without matches? Taken a sales order without turning it in? Held a meeting, but forgot to inform a key participant? Checklists are easy to create and simple to complete. Just make a list of all of the crucial elements that must be completed to be successful. Next, work your way down through the list -- item-by-item.
"Excellence is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well." ~ John W. Gardner
Read Today's TQ, and find out how to improve this aspect of your Organize Color.
When you feel fear, identify it precisely. That's half the battle. When you bring fear into the light of day, you move it from some vague dark force to something specific and concrete which can be acted on.
You often fear that which is undefined. First name it, then confront it.
Today's TQ Challenge: Use FEAR as a Call to Immediate ACTION... Conquer that Fear by Expanding Your Comfort Zone.
When you are stopped by fear, you almost always fail. Every type of fear -- physical, emotional or social -- has the beneficial purpose of protecting you from harm. However, this does not mean you must always stop. Remember this: thought directs action. Confirm the value of your goal and the appropriateness of your actions. Then, consciously choose to focus on more productive thoughts. Master this and you can act in spite of your fear -- and continue toward your desired goal.
"Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you're right!" ~ Henry Ford
Read Today's TQ, and find out how to improve this aspect of your Act Now Color.
The best time to set a goal for yourself is NOW!
You can start small. You can start easy. But start by clearly defining one specific goal for each of your roles today!
Today's TQ Challenge: Clearly Define the MOST Desired Outcome Possible.
Creating an ideal life, where all of your roles are completely fulfilled, starts with setting clear goals. If you never define what you expect, you will only get what life gives you -- and that may be a whole lot less than what you want. Why leave things to chance? Every major interest and role in your life deserves its own series of goals. Clearly defined goals for each of your roles provides a rewarding direction -- and an ever-present purpose for each area of your life.
"When we are motivated by goals that have deep meaning, by dreams that need completion, by pure love that needs expressing, then we truly live life." ~ Greg Anderson
Read Today's TQ, and find out how to improve this aspect of your Set Goals Color.
You know what's most important to your family, career, personal growth and financial goals. If you want to get more from every minute, you need to learn how to make every minute count, and relinquish all those activities that are wasting your precious time.
It's not that life's so short; it's that when it's over, it's over!
Today's TQ Challenge: Put a Value on Time Invested.
Time is the most precious gift of all. Ask anyone facing a serious accident or illness, or an important deadline. Ask any parent watching their little girl all grown up and graduating from high school. You must learn how to become accountable for every minute in your day, because each day spent, is a day gone forever. Concentrate your time on only those things that produce the greatest reward and satisfaction to you.
"Big jobs usually go to the men who prove their ability to outgrow small ones." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Read Today's TQ, and find out how to improve this aspect of your Optimize Color.
The key to running a successful meeting is preparation. Prepare an agenda, circulate it in advance, bring all necessary presentation materials, inform attendees of their expected contributions and follow your agenda.
Make your next meeting successful. Use advance planning and detailed preparation.
Today's TQ Challenge: Get Fully Engaged Quickly -- Or Get Out Gracefully.
A meeting can either be valuable and highly productive or a complete waste of time. It all depends on the attitude and the preparation of everyone in the meeting. The key to a successful meeting is a highly focused agenda, advanced preparation, a skilled moderator and follow up on items requested and promises made.
"Neither can the wave that has passed by be recalled, nor the hour which has passed return again." ~ Ovid
Read Today's TQ, and find out how to improve this aspect of your Synergize Color.
I made it a habit years ago to ruthlessly limit my exposure to junk, fake and useless news to just 30 minutes a day.
That is more than enough time to get a global perspective on what's going on, process what is being said, and form an opinion.
Think about this.
There are only 1,440 minutes in a day (24 hours x 60 minutes).
Read this article at ThinkTQ.com.
For the past two weeks, we have been discussing the peace of mind that comes from knowing you have done your very best.
If you do the best you can, given the circumstances in which you find yourself, what more is there?
Better.
To achieve your dreams... to maintain balance in the heat of the battle... to know that you have done the best you could given the circumstances you faced... requires you to focus on the important, and not be consumed by the urgent.
This is a major driver of success, both personally and professionally. It is not hard to focus, if you know what's important to you, and what's not.
For the next two weeks, we will be discussing the "flip side" of Will Power: Peace of Mind.
As those of you who have read The Power of TQ know, my definition of success is simply this: "The peace of mind that comes from knowing you have done your very best."
As General Patton says, if you do your best, what more is there?
This week, in light of the upcoming Thanksgiving Weekend, we will be discussing how showing thanks and appreciation, in everyday terms, enhances your ability to live what you value most.
If you are not GETTING what you want out of life, maybe you're not GIVING enough to it.
Daily Motivation, Inspiration, and Information! HERE
