What makes for a fulfilling day?
For many years, I’ve signed my eMails and letters with, “Make it a Great Day.” It’s a little different than “have a nice day,” in that it acknowledges that the power to make the day great is yours. Because the truth is, outside circumstances don’t determine how good the day is or isn’t—you do.
But what MAKES it a great day? As you think about the day ahead, how will you measure its greatness? Most of us plan what we’ll do, but how many of us think about what will make it a truly successful and fulfilling day.
Everyone wants a great day, but I doubt that many people define, plan and expect them. But that’s exactly how to create great days. You get to determine what constitutes your great day.
So what would it take to make today great?
Here are just a few ideas. What would YOU add?
What will you accomplish?
With whom will you be meeting?
How do you want them to experience that meeting?
How will you feel?
What will you learn?
What will you do—and NOT do?
How will you appreciate, acknowledge and treat yourself and others?
What will you think about?
For what will you be grateful?
What disciplines will you exercise?
What contribution will you make to the world, your community, your family?
Many years ago, I wrote my definition of a successful day. And I still find it helpful as a guide to creating a great day.
A Successful Day: to learn something new; to laugh at least 10 times; to lift someone up; to make progress on a worthy goal; to practice peace and patience; to do something nice for yourself and another; to appreciate and be grateful for all your blessings.
I encourage you to create your own definition of a successful day. And when you PLAN your day out, think about what it will take to make it great. Almost everyone gets by. And the day will go by regardless. It’s up to you to make it a great one.
Begin with the End in Mind
This is one of Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. And it’s a good one. Think of yourself at the end of the day reflecting back upon your experience. Feel grateful for the good things that have transpired, the positive interactions with friends, family and associates. Feel the satisfaction of work well done, new things learned—the fun, the challenges overcome and the progress you’ve made.
This sets up the expectation of a fulfilling day and causes you to attract what you want instead of what you DON’T want. And it makes it very much easier to create a plan that results in the end you had in mind.
End the Day with Gratitude
One of the best ways to enhance your day is to end each day with a grateful heart. If you learn to appreciate more of what you already have, you’ll find yourself having even more to appreciate.
The word appreciate has several meanings. One is to be thankful or show gratitude. Another is to increase in value—such as a good investment appreciating with time. I believe that by appreciating—practicing gratefulness—the things we have and want in our lives also increase.
In our hectic, fast-paced lives, it’s easy to forget about the many things for which we have to be grateful. We tend to be goal-seeking, achievement-oriented people.
And there’s nothing wrong with that.
However, it’s vitally important that we not lose sight of the things that are near and dear—things we all too easily take for granted.
What We Focus on Expands
If we focus on the problems in our lives, they tend to increase. If we focus on the good things we desire, as well as what we already have, they too, have a tendency to grow.
I see it as almost a form of prayer. When we worry and fret over things, we make them bigger than they really are—as well as attract more of the same. That’s negative prayer—prayer in reverse.
Focusing on what we HAVE and what we WANT “appreciates” these things—and they grow.
Just before going to sleep each night, my wife and I share at least three things for which we’re thankful. We call it doing our “Gratefuls”. It takes only a few moments, but it directs our thoughts on the good—on the things we wish to increase in our life. At the very least, it focuses our attention as we drift off to sleep on the good and the great rather than on any challenges or difficulties we have faced or will likely face in the morning. It’s positive programming of your mind at a time when both your conscious and subconscious mind are open and impressionable.
I suggest making the conscious consideration of your blessings a daily rather than only an occasional occurrence. If you do, you’ll find them taking on an even greater presence.
If you truly want to enhance your day, then you must take charge of it before it even starts. Plan it. Expect it. Enjoy it. You are 100-percent responsible for YOUR day. No one can ruin it without your permission. They may make it difficult, they may try to spoil it, but you—and you alone—have the ability to respond instead of just react to outside circumstances.
Reflection
To paraphrase Socrates, “The unexamined day isn’t worth living.” And one of the best ways to enhance the days of our lives is to reflect upon the day we just experienced. How did it go? What did I learn? What could I have done differently?
WW, WD, WN
The review technique I use and recommend is, “What Worked? What Didn’t? and What’s Next?”. It’s the format our Diamond Club MasterMind Teams use to give their report to one another each week. And it’s highly effective. It makes note of what’s not working, acknowledges what did work and focuses on the next steps. I also use it as a basic agenda for staff meetings.
SODA
I created this acronym years ago to help me stay focused, become more efficient and be more effective. It’s worked very well. SODA stands for . . .
Simplify
Organize
Delegate
Automate
By constantly looking for ways to leverage our efforts, we enhance our intended results. What we do becomes easier, faster, simpler and requires less effort and attention in the long run. Every day, look for ways to SODA.
SYSTEMS
One of the ways we can consistently enhance our days is to create and use systems that support our efforts.
Almost everyone has good intentions. We want to do the right thing and do a good job. Where most errors occur is in not having good systems.
Some time ago ago, I created an acronym for systems and it goes like this . . .
Save
Yourself
Substantial
Time
Energy
Money &
Stress
A system can be as simple as a checklist or as complicated as a detailed project plan. But systems save time, energy, money and stress. So use them.
Correction Without Invalidation
We waste a great deal of time and energy beating ourselves up over mistakes we make. But you’ve reached real maturity when you can practice what I call Correction Without Invalidation.
It’s important that we acknowledge our errors and learn from them. But it does no good—in fact it’s detrimental—to invalidate ourselves. We need to refocus and not berate ourselves—or others.
Correction Without Invalidation is a simple concept and few would argue against its wisdom. But grasping a concept and living it in your life are two things indeed. I’m not saying it’s easy. But I am saying it’s worth mastering.
Winners spend little to no time being upset for not being further along or having made mistakes. They notice, they learn and they move on. They can dislike the sin (error) but continue to love and appreciate the sinner.
A successful life is an accumulation of successful days. And making a concerted effort to enhance, improve, enjoy, learn from and fully experience each day is worth every bit of effort we can put into it.
Make this day great.
This article was originally published on SuccessNet.org in 2012.
