Make the Most of Today

Earlier this week, I received a phone call from a friend. Upon answering the phone, the call went as it normally does. Catching up on the events of life, small talk, things we are looking forward to, holiday plans, you name it.

About 5 minutes or so into the call my friend asked me a simple question. "Do you ever find yourself in a rut." I asked them to explain, and they described it as a period of time when everything in life is going great, yet for some reason there is a lack of energy or urgency. Almost like you are going through life on cruise control.

I reassured them that this happens to most everyone.

No matter how driven or self-motivated you are, sometimes you find yourself lacking the motivation to be productive throughout the day. Maybe you find yourself sitting at work all day and at the end of the day you think to yourself questions like, "Was I really productive today?" or "What difference did I make today for myself or others?" or "Did I do anything to become better today than I was yesterday?"

It happens to the best of us. But what do we do on the days, weeks, or months that we experience this?

In going through times such as these, I have discovered action steps that have helped me push forward and accomplish what needs to get done.

In last week's article, we focused our thoughts on finding inspiration to propel us to action.

Now, let's look at what comes next, and focus on a few tips that may help bring out the "self-starter" in all of us.

Getting the Ball Rolling

When I first started in sales, one of the things I had the absolute pleasure of doing nearly every day was making cold calls. Now if you genuinely enjoy making cold calls, this example may not resonate with you as much as it will for others. (Important to note, cold calls or cold emails are a great tool in getting out of your comfort zone, building confidence, and creating discipline. So new salespeople, don't shy away from them.)

Anyway, I had goals that I needed to meet that were required of me when it came to the number of phone calls I made each week.

If you have experienced this, you may remember a time similar to the one I am about to share.

It was around 3:00pm on a Friday and I had been dialing numbers and making calls nonstop since 8:00am.

Needless to say, I wasn't very eager to make another call, even though I needed to in order to meet my goal.

So, there I am, staring at the phone............and that's about it.

So, what did I do in that moment to push myself? I set the smallest goals you could think of.

In all seriousness, the first goal I made for myself in that moment was to just pick up the phone.

Once I did that, my next goal was to just dial the number. After that, it was to press call.

I literally had to break down the process of simply picking up the phone and making the next call into small achievable steps.

While it may sound ridiculous, completing these small steps "got the ball rolling." Next thing I knew, I found the groove and got back on track. These small accomplishments led to more non-stop back-to-back calls for the remainder of my day. Ultimately, achieving and surpassing my goal.

Next time you need to get the ball rolling, remember that no goal is to small, especially if it creates the momentum needed to find success.

Starting the Day off the Right Way

Many of us are familiar with the book "Make Your Bed" by Admiral William H. McRaven. If not, I highly recommend it. The book was in part inspired by the core tenets Admiral McRaven made in his commencement speech to The University of Texas at Austin on May 17, 2014. The speech, which you can watch here, focuses on the fact that accomplishing a small task at the beginning of your day, will encourage you to complete many other tasks throughout the day, and "that the little things matter."

In periods when you feel that you are in a rut and lacking motivation, start your day with an accomplishment. Again, this doesn't have to be anything big.

This could be making your bed, doing 20 push-ups when you first get out of bed, going on a morning walk, or meditating.

You will notice that by accomplishing something at the beginning of your day, your motivational will increase as the day goes on.

Reminding Ourselves of the Results of Procrastination

What happens if you don't accomplish what you need to? What happens if you don't complete the small, sometimes mundane, tasks of the day? Trick question, nothing happens.

The little things end up having a major impact on the final outcome. For example, let's explore again the idea of a salesperson failing to make the number of contacts required of them per week. This will more than likely result in less meetings, fewer sales, and an overall decline in job performance. If the salesperson thought honestly about the consequences of their inaction, I would at least hope they would be more motivated to pick up the phone, send the email, or go to the networking event.

If you lack motivation to exercise, and you think of the negative health consequences that occur due to not taking care of your body, you may be more motivated to go to the gym or go on a run.

This is by no means saying that you should purposely "stress yourself out" or focus on negatives. What I am encouraging is honest self-evaluation and a realization of the negative consequences that come from inaction. No one wants to become worse tomorrow than they were today, so let's take action today to become better.

I am a huge fan of the Rocky movies. One of my favorite quotes from the series is as follows:

“Going in one more round when you don't think you can. That’s what makes all the difference in your life.”? –? Rocky Balboa

You have to much potential to let today go to waste!

Prove yourself wrong.

There are no second chances on today, so make the most of it and prove to yourself that you can accomplish more than you think!

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About the Author:

Ian Mohorn strives to help businesses and people achieve their highest potential all while assisting them to succeed in selling, leadership, engagement, presentations, managing stress and worry, self-confidence, communication and human relations skills. He is President and CEO of SCIE & Associates, LLC which offers Dale Carnegie Programs in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida. His mission is to develop and serve all those he works with to the best of our ability. He understands that business clients are more than clients, they are partners. Partners that have trusted him and Dale Carnegie Training of the Emerald Coast with the most of important part of their business: their people.

People. Partnership. Performance.