The Perfect Day

Everyone that has kept up with my blog so far, knows that I am big on personal responsibility and setting goals. I love goals! I understand how to set goals but I am not always the best at writing them down. Brian Tracy is my favorite person to listen to when it comes to setting goals. He says, “People with clear, written goals, accomplish far more in a shorter period of time than people without them could ever imagine.” For this to work, you obviously have to stick to the plan. For me, the budget has been the best example of success by having a written plan. There’s nothing like a contract with yourself to get the ball rolling!

I want to really get good at setting goals so I have been working on something called The Perfect Day. The way Brian Tracy gets you to think about what you need to do, is by getting you to envision the goal as already completed. What does it look like? Once you have pictured what that success looks like, then you decide exactly what you would have had to do to achieve that goal. This really makes the goal setting process easy because it makes you ask yourself all of the important questions.

I want to be more productive in my day, but being more productive doesn’t mean just staying busy. I think people assume that just because they were busy all day it means they were productive. By setting daily goals, you are in fact budgeting your time, to maximize your productivity. You are telling yourself WHAT to do, and WHEN to do it. If you are setting goals for work to maximize productivity, then you would also use The ABCDE Method for Setting Priorities, but for the purpose of this blog we are going to use the K.I.S.S. method. Keep It Simple Stupid! So what does my Perfect Day look like? Obviously, when you see my example you will realize that my Perfect Day must be my day off. I want to be more productive on my days off than I have been lately. You can adjust your goals according to whatever you need to do the next day. The key is to write it down, whatever it is, just write it down!

So here is what my Perfect day off would look like:

8:00 a.m.- WAKE UP! Start the day by reading for 1 hour. I will pick material that will motivate and inspire me. This will stimulate my brain and likely cause me to be more creative and more solution oriented throughout the day.

9:00 a.m.- Shower and put on my shoes. I read somewhere that when you shower it creates a positive outlook on the day and builds confidence. I also read that when you put your shoes on first thing in the morning, it causes you to be less likely to slack off. Remember my goal is to be more productive, and with T.V., Internet, and my bed handy it is sometimes hard to resist the urge to slack off.

9:15 a.m.- Wake up Isaac and have breakfast. I find it so easy to skip the most important meal of the day. Not on the perfect day though!

10:00 a.m.- 2 hour bike ride and then another quick shower! Yes, I want to be Forest Gump on a bike, because I desperately need to lose weight and be healthy. I have found that I like a nice bike ride rather than going to the gym. A workout that includes the whole family is the most fun way to exercise. Not to mention that it reinforces good healthy habits that Isaac will be more likely to continue as he gets older. Also, it sure beats sitting in front of the T.V.

12:00 p.m.- Take Isaac to the park for 30 minutes. I just love watching Isaac as he enjoys himself, plus it makes for an easy time getting him to nap. Lucky for me the park is right across the street from our house.

12:30 p.m.- Lunch time! Mmmmm!

1:00 p.m.- Time for Isaac to nap for an hour while Daddy studies FPU lessons. There is never enough time to grow. I want to become the best in my field!

2:00 p.m.- This 3 hour period would be used to handle anything that came up at the last minute or just to handle any errands that might need to be done. Grocery shopping, paying bills etc. To maximize my efficiency and save on gas, I would spend 5-10 minutes to plan my route.

5:00 p.m.- Dinner time at the dinner table! Family time is very important to me! Alana and I would like to get better about eating dinner at the dinner table, instead of in the living room.

6:00 p.m.- Two more hours of family time! (Board games, a nice walk, a leisurely bike ride, or even just sitting in the living room and having a nice conversation)

8:00 p.m.- I would use the next 3 hours to study, read blogs, research blogs, write blogs, or anything that would move me closer to my financial, career, and lifetime goals.

11:00 p.m.- Time to wind down! I would chose this time to read the Bible.

12:00 a.m.- Lights OUT! Time to get my 8 hours of sleep. This is an important goal for me because I often cut my sleep short. It is not uncommon for me to only sleep for three or four hours. I have realized that most of the time it is because I didn’t have a daily plan, and may have wasted valuable time. I want to eliminate “Dead Time”.

The bottom line is that whenever you want to accomplish something, having written goals is the easiest and fastest way to accomplish it. When you want to better manage your finances, you make a budget. When you want to build a house, you create a blueprint. When you want to accomplish more in your day, you devise a plan. Now it is up to you to stick to your plan for success! What does your Perfect Day look like? Good Luck!

Since I am most inspired by Brian Tracy on goal setting, I wanted to leave you with some helpful links from his blog. To anyone that is interested in learning more about self improvement and successful habits, you will find these links to be very helpful.

1. Setting Your Goals
2. The Key To Motivation
3. The ABCDE Method for Setting Priorities
4. The Major Obstacle To Financial Success
5. The Determinant of Your Success

Enjoy!

**I would like to take this opportunity to ask all of you to please pray for my wife. Today is the big day she is taking the N-CLEX Nursing Exam. Thank you very much!