You’ll Hit What You Aim at Every Time
You need a clear vision of where you want to go, or you will just drift through life going nowhere in particular.
In Michael Hyatt and Daniel Harkavy’s book, Living Forward, they propose a plan for being intentional and stopping the drift. They say drifting usually happens for one or more of the following reasons:
- We’re unaware – We simply don’t know what’s happening
- We’re distracted – We aren’t focused on the goals
- We’re overwhelmed – We take on more than we should
- We’re deceived – We are often unconscious about our beliefs compared to reality
“If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.” Zig Ziglar
The question of how to organize and plan has come up several times over the past several weeks. I’ve been thinking about it a lot. I wasn’t aware of how intentional I had become about avoiding the drift in my life.
A couple of weeks ago, I started the discussion about getting control of your life. Then I wrote about one of the tools I use for this. I had planned to go into another tool this week (maybe next week) but have decided instead to discuss more about the importance of intentional organization.
I’d forgotten how frustrating it was when I didn’t have a clear plan for where I wanted to go or how I was going to get there.
Most people don’t go to the level of detail with their scheduling as I do and that’s okay. What I’ve been trying to figure out is why many of these same people are frustrated and feel that their lives are out of control. Through several discussions I concluded all scheduling is basically the same.
The difference is in the level if intentionality.
In Ray Edward’s podcast about starting an online business this week, he talks about the three things you must do in order to succeed while avoiding stress and overwhelm. These same things must be done to succeed in life as well.
- Intention – Know what you want, why you want it, and have a plan for getting it.
- Focus – Identify the essential activities for getting there and schedule them.
- Margin – Give yourself time for rest, recreation and reflection.
This sounds a lot like how I schedule my life and my days.
There are studies that show when writing goals down they are more likely to be accomplished. The same thing is true when writing things down on task lists and calendars. You must decide what you want and then take the necessary actions if you are to accomplish it.
Writing things down keeps me accountable to myself.