getting things done

Each week that passes seems to fly by these days. It may be because I have a child or because I’m so focused on my work but regardless of the reason one thing I do find valuable is writing down what my goals are for the upcoming week. It doesn’t mean that I’ll get them all done but it does give me something to shoot for. At the end of each week I jot down a comment besides each of my goals that week – how far I read in a certain book, mark in red the things I wasn’t able to get to, check off those things I did complete. Now for most of my life I never bothered, so why the change? I decided that rather than hope and wonder what the future had in store for me that I would rather design my future. Looking back over my twenties I wonder where it all went. Sure I made it through but just what did I spend my time on and, more importantly, what did I accomplish? We all remember the big events in our lives but we tend to overlook the little achievements we made along the way. Each achievement done adds to our own self-esteem. We begin to see just how much we’re capable of and that little voice that says we can’t do it gets a little quieter.

Looking over my progress of the last few weeks I can say that I read 5 self improvement books, a DVD on the topic of relaxation, I listened to an audio session for 3 hours, finished the final edit on my book and wrote up my voice notes. Just looking over that makes me smile : )

In life it’s not about how much we say we’re going to get done but what we do get done. Life, like business, is all about results. When I ask my students at Smith’s 英会話 Hirakata what they have gotten done recently it’s easy enough to tell by simply opening up their notebook, their work speaks for itself. What have you gotten done recently?

Adrian