This year, 2012, is a leap year. Today, February 29, is a leap day.
Why not use this as a motivator to leap into success for the rest of the year? What do you need to do to be who you want to be by the end of the year? Now is a great time to plan and implement for your future!
I do not agree that the known is better than the unknown is. This attitude can keep us in bad situations out of a fear of change. For example, if we have a really bad boss, we may not look for a new job out of fear that the new one will be worse. However, the new boss may be much better! Without taking a chance, we will never know.
Do you agree or disagree?
I am an “easer.” I like to ease my way into situations. I like to study the situation, analyze it, develop goals, create a plan, and eventually do something. I have friends who are jumpers. Whatever the situation, they just jump into it and start doing things. Sometimes I admire them!
There is no right or wrong. Both methods can get the job done. A concern with being an easer is that it may take much longer than it should to get results. After a while, more information does not help. However, the result is usually right on target.
A concern with being a jumper that although things are being done, they may not be the right things. Time may be wasted by going back and doing things over. However, at least something is being done.
What are you, an easer, a jumper, or the nice middle balance?
In any situation, we have choices—emphasis on the plural! It bothers me when someone says that he or she did something because he or she “did not have a choice.” Wrong!
There are always choices. There might only be one good choice out of a dozen bad choices, but there are still choices! Even deciding to do something rather than nothing is a choice. Deciding not to make choice is still making a choice!
When we tell ourselves that we did something because we did not have a choice, it is a negative. It is giving away our power. When we take ownership of the choice we made, it is a positive. It reaffirms that we have power over our lives. If we pick the one good choice out of a dozen bad choices, we need to take credit for that!
If someone would pay me, I could easily be a professional student! I have always loved school, I think mostly because I love to learn. Even now, I like doing the research for projects and presentations. I like learning about social media. I like learning how to write and publish a book. There comes a time, though, when I need to stop “studying” a topic and start “doing” something about it!
There are many reasons why people do not accomplish what they intend. This is just one. If you are one of those who enjoy the studying and preparation so much that you never finish, it may be time to “leave school” and “enter the real world.” If I can do it from time to time, so can you!
An old management adage is “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” All this refers to is that you take something large and complex, such as a project, and break it down into smaller, more manageable pieces. By breaking it down into pieces, it is not as formidable and it is easier to accomplish.
I have done this successfully for years for business. I rarely have enough time in one setting to complete a project. However, by working on one section at a time, the project is done. In addition, it is completed more quickly than if I waited until I had enough time to do it at once.
Another example of this is education. Few adults have the luxury of going back to school full time. I did not. However, by taking one class a semester, in a few years I completed my MBA. Had I waited until I could devote full time to it, I would still be waiting!
I have recently discovered that this philosophy works just as well for personal projects. (Sometimes it takes me awhile!) For example, I have wanted to clean out and rearrange the kitchen cupboards and pantry for a couple of years. Finally, I just started doing one cupboard or shelf as I had 15-20 minutes. This usually occurred while cooking dinner. In a few weeks, I have more accomplished than in the past two years!
This is just one of many examples of how strategies that help us meet our goals in one area of our lives can be used to achieve success in other areas of our lives.
To succeed in our professional and personal lives it is important to strive to be our best every day. Realistically, some days we will do better than other days. As long as we continue to strive to do our best, however, we will continue to improve. This means that our “best” will continue to move upward!
The key is that we strive to do our best, not someone else’s best. There will always be someone who is smarter than we are, more successful than we are, and has more than we have. That does not matter. What matters is that we improve and be the best we can be.
For me, golf is a good example. If I compared my golf game to what others do, I would have quit years ago! However, when I look at how I played several years ago, I have improved immensely! I have taken steps, such as lessons, practice, and playing more, to improve. However, I have also measured myself against myself rather than someone else.
When we can see improvement in ourselves, it gives us more confidence. Although we can use someone else’s success as an example, we should measure our progress against ourselves, rather than against someone else.
