If you took my advice and wrote down your goals the next step is maintaining a laser-like focus on achieving them. It may seem obvious that planning without execution is useless but so often we are distracted by daily demands and what really matters most takes a backseat to just about everything else. Here are four action steps you can take each day to help you stay on track:

Step One: Create an Ideal Week. Your ideal week is your master plan for creating bigger futures. Design your ideal week by finding blocks of time for your high payoff activities. Block out repetitive and routine events and weekly projects. Organize your day around money hours – do the same thing every week by blocking your daily activities such as reviewing goals, prospecting, returning calls and e-mails, professional development, and blank space to handle emergencies. People perform better in “chunks” than in “whole pieces”. Block it and lock it!

Step Two: Be Here Now. Be Here Now is a good reminder for all of us as we seek better balance to focus on what really matters most in our lives. Being in the present moment is really about allowing our minds to settle and clear, bringing an increased focus on the actual moment we are experiencing. Our life is lived out one moment at a time so it is critical to develop the habit of living in the present moment with an upward view of our bigger future.

Step Three: Create a Morning Routine. The first hour of the day should be a power hour for you. Ground yourself and center yourself before rushing headlong into the day. A morning routine can be a powerful ritual for starting your day. My morning routine includes prayer and meditation, writing my gratitudes and some reading from scriptures or other great books to put myself in the highest possible state  of service to my clients and mankind.

Step Four: Stop Living out of Your Inbox. Plan your day so you can get the most out of it. Plan to work on your highest payoff activities and get rid of your low payoff activities.  Do whatever it takes to stay on your plan. Do not waste time checking e-mails throughout the day and working only out of your inbox. Schedule time to check and respond to e-mails, yes, but do not spend all day checking e-mails and being ruled by what seems to be “urgent matters”. Remember you are on your own goals program or someone else’s. Keep your calendar and your goals highly visible.

I hope you are able to implement some of these steps into your day. I know they have been helpful to me on my own journey to improving personal productivity and I am confident that they will do the same for you.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michael Gidlewski is President of West Chester-based Achievement Unlimited, Inc., as well as a growth catalyst and motivational speaker. He works with business owners and entrepreneurs to clearly define what they want their businesses and lives to look like, then helps them connect all the moving parts to consistent action and habits. Michael can be reached at 610-793-6609 or via e-mail at michael@achievable.com.

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