What are we measuring?
How are we measuring it?
Should we be measuring this?
And, most importantly, are we sure we measuring the right things?
Ignore Goodhart’s Law at your own peril.
Tag / habit 3
You don’t get time, you make it
You don’t get time—to read, eat well, love your spouse, exercise, or whatever.
You have to make time. This applies to anything important to you. If it matters, you must carve out time in your day to ensure it happens.
Otherwise, life will ensure it doesn’t.
Important things don’t scream
“The things which are most important don’t always scream the loudest.”
—Bob Hawke
In fact, they often whisper.
Like the child who quietly asks for your attention while wringing her hands: “Hey, Mom?”
Or that stabbing twinge in your chest that’s been paining you more often.
The screaming in our everyday lives often distracts us from what we should really be paying attention to.
Selfishness vs. prioritization
Asking your spouse to watch the kids for 4 hours every Saturday so you can get your research done…
That’s not selfish.
That’s self-prioritization. And it’s the only way to get important things done.
It may feel selfish. Other people might TELL you it’s selfish.
You’re wrong. And so are they.
We have to be willing to ask people to take things off our plates so we can take care of the “Big Rocks” in our lives. And reciprocate in kind when the same is asked of us.
Knowing, and asking for, what you need to be your best self makes things better for everyone you influence.
How is that selfish?
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A Thread to Hold
“He who every morning plans the transactions of the day and follows out that plan carries a thread that will guide him through the labyrinth of the most busy life…. But where no plan is laid, where the disposal of time is surrendered merely to the chance of incident, chaos will soon reign.”
—Victor Hugo
What are you doing to ensure you are getting the most important things done rather than merely the most things?
Spend 10 minutes each morning laying out a plan for the day.
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Successful people do ONE thing all the time
Successful people are normal. They have no superhuman abilities, no extreme discipline honed by years of meditation or special operations training. However, they do something the rest of us don’t always do:
They choose.
Successful people choose what is important to them; they choose to prioritize what is important throughout the day; and they choose to carry out those things regardless of feelings or external triggers.
You must plan to do the things that matter – the things that will get you where you want to go. These are the achievements, contributions, and attributes for which you want to be remembered at your funeral.
Before you can plan them, however, you must define them. How will you achieve what’s important if you don’t know what is important?
You won’t.
But even if you lay out what is important and plan your day accordingly, it will not matter unless you choose to carry out the items of importance. This is what separates successful people from the rest.
“The successful person has the habit of doing the things failures don’t like to do….They don’t like doing them either necessarily. But their disliking is subordinated to the strength of their purpose.”
E.M. Gray – “The Common Denominator of Success”
Even if something is important, and you are aware of its importance, you will find times when you really don’t want to do it. You won’t want to exercise; you won’t want to read your kids to sleep after a long day at work. If you don’t, that’s fine. But you are making a choice based on feelings or circumstances, relinquishing control of your own life.
Every action you take or don’t is a choice. Choose to do the things that further your mission, rather than choosing to let other people, feelings, and circumstances choose for you.
Choose to be successful.
In summary
Define what really matters most to you.
Plan your days based around what is important.
And most importantly, choose to act regardless of how you feel, what other people do, or what is going on around you.
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