By Leland Pulley
Most goals in life are not accomplished in a day, week, or month. Many things are accomplished over an extended period of time. Achievement is measured in steps or degrees of improvement. It often shows up in better quality or more quantity. Whatever you want to do or accomplish, you will eventually learn that consistent daily effort and progress will pay you great dividends in the long run.
One good illustration is getting enough exercise. There will be days when you forget to do exercises or you do only part of them. Do not be discouraged. Consistent effort over time will help you exercise three or four days a week. The main concern each day is not the past, but what you can do today to help sustain your efforts and move you towards what you are trying to achieve. In this case do your exercises today, if at all possible, rather than worry about the fact that you have not done them for two days. In this way you are making today count towards your goal of being in good physical condition and possibly losing weight also. Think about your exercises for tomorrow when tomorrow comes.
Money is important to all of us in one way or another. Reducing unnecessary spending can help us save a considerable sum of money. Over a period of time the accumulative effect of saving a little bit of money each day, week, or pay period will add up. Very seldom do we get the chance to obtain, win, or earn a large sum of money. We must depend upon steady earnings, savings, and investments during good times to sustain us during bad economic times. To make each day count with money, use it wisely. Have a financial plan including an appropriate budget. Live within your budget and treat money with care and concern each day. Over the months and years, you will find that you have far more of a chance to accumulate some wealth.
I do some trading in stocks. It is very discouraging to lose hundreds of dollars in a day and likewise very encouraging to make hundreds of dollars in a day. But what I have found is an important secret. Determine what earnings are needed each day in order to meet the bills and have some emergency funds. Then each day of trading strive to make this amount of money. Do not get in a hurry nor be greedy while trading. Do not take unnecessary risks or use bad judgment. A simple $50-100 a day for four weeks in a month will produce an income supplement of $1000-2000 a month. This along with retirement money and any income from a job can make a big difference in lifestyle. It could determine between paying all bills or not being able to pay some bills. It could decide whether you take a long vacation or no vacation. It can influence whether you have two cars or one, or you buy a new car rather than a used car. This simple concept of making today count by obtaining one hundred dollars a day is the beginning of successful trading in the stock market.
We all have family members, relatives, friends, neighbors, and coworkers. There are opportunities that come up daily to help someone or make their day go better. You can choose to worry about yourself only, or reach out and show concern for others. If you do not have a pattern in your life of including others, began now. Make a decision that you will smile more and be more friendly. Decide that you will make yourself available, within reasonable limits, to help others. Then do not focus on all the days in the future, but only today. This makes it an easy goal to achieve. Once today has ended, all you have to worry about tomorrow is tomorrow. Take each day at a time and you will improve in your interaction and service with others. As a bonus, any improvement or progress you make in this area will bring a return to you by others as they reach out and help you and brighten up your day.
One of the secrets involved in making use of today is letting time work in your favor. Small incremental improvements over a period of time will surely bring to pass progress and in some cases minor miracles in your life. You cannot wave a magical wane and instantly achieve your goal. Life is simply not that way. But you can move towards it and the surest way to do this is making the best use of your time, talents, energy, and opportunities today.
Making each day count is putting yourself into life. It is positive and optimistic, rather than negative and pessimistic. It is being confident and assertive. Then taking that positive energy, you utilize it or apply it consistently each day to the best of your ability. There will be disappointments on some days and mistakes and unforeseen problems. At the end of every day assess what happened and why. Determine what you can do better tomorrow. Get a good night=s rest and start over again the next day striving to do a little better than you did today. With this approach you will make progress over time towards some of the most important things in your life. These are things like happiness, a good marital relationship, better parenting, being a good citizen, taking care of your health, and gaining knowledge. You are in control of these things, not the government nor your employer or your neighbor. If you get control of these personal items that you can control and master, then it will be easier to work on and succeed in activities and endeavors they involve other people or are influenced and partially controlled by people and groups outside of yourself. Some examples are group projects, promotions at work, or winning an election.
Ask yourself whether you have a pattern in your life of making each day count. Or do you simply let the days go by and hope that things will get better on their own without you making an effort to improve or change or work harder. If this is the case for you, then probably five or ten years from now things will be no different than today. If you want improvement or change, began to seek it in an active manner now and along the way make each day count as you strive to achieve your goals.
Keep in mind that there are things not to do. Do not be lazy. Do not always seek the fastest and easiest way to do something because this can ultimately trip you up or work against you in some way. Avoid procrastination. This is so common. Do not make excuses for yourself. Do not feel sorry for yourself. Avoid depression. Get help if you need it, to overcome negative attitudes and influences in order to utilize positive ones in your life.
I challenge you to assess the way you use each day. How can you make your daily efforts more productive and powerful? How can you keep them focused on what you really want out of life? Come up with a few responses and then implement them one at a time. In this way you will be a better Inner Boss, have more Effective Living, practice better Personal Stewardship, and achieve more Success in your activities and endeavors.
Key Words – time, improvement, consistent daily effort and progress, exercise, help others, stock market, make each day count, small incremental improvements over a period of time, confident, assertive, assess, progress, goals, focused, Inner Boss
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