TMM Parts 8 & 9, including valuable lessons from a very wet night at the football!

8. Today’s gonna be a good day!

This is the TMM strapline – today’s gonna be a good day. Not a perfect day and quite possibly not a day without some really hard stuff going on – but a good day.

A good day because in the midst of all the ups and downs of everyday life, you were able to set out at the beginning some wins that were within your power to control and that you delivered on.

This is the fundamental value of a good TMM routine. Think about the day ahead with all of it’s existing, unavoidable time commitments and the daily stuff that takes up a decent amount of your time already, and then give some serious thought to how the land lies and determine what you will do today that really counts.

In a work day that already has six hours of meetings scheduled, it makes no sense to create a list of things you intend to do that would take at least ten hours! You’ll just end the day frustrated. There might only be one thing that you decide you’re going to absolutely commit to beyond showing up where you need to with a good attitude and to be fully present. Getting that one thing done makes it a good day!

On another day that’s largely free of prior commitments, your expectations and opportunities for getting things done are much greater. This is your chance to make some solid progress on longer-term projects, to do some catching up with key people, to put in some proper thinking time…whatever is going to create the feeling that come the end of the day, it’s been a good day.

For most people, there are two important ‘good day’ moments. One is when you finish your working day. The other is when your entire day is done and you head off to bed. The question you want to ask yourself as you do your TMM for the day ahead is, “At the end of my working day, will delivery of what I’ve got planned constitute a good day?” and “As I lay my head on the pillow this evening, will what I’ve done with my non-working time leave me feeling that it’s been a good day?”

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9. A motivational half-time team talk

I went to the football last night with my 16-year-old son to watch a very unglamorous FA Cup replay, Southampton versus Watford. It was raining like Noah’s Ark might need to be called for and the crowd was, unsurprisingly, rather sparse despite the home club’s generously reduced ticket prices! Cue a drab, goal-less first half and those supporters – not us die-hards! – who chose to stay away will have been feeling pretty pleased with their decision.

Then something happened.

The half-time whistle blew and the players trudged out of the rain back into the changing rooms. After a couple of minutes of changing soaking kits and whatever else is needed, the manager of the teams has about, you’ve guessed it, ten minutes to spend with the team to try and improve things for the second half.

What’s gone well? Not much!

What could be better? Everything!

What’s our plan? What are we going to do differently?

How about our attitude? Can we play smarter, try harder, be braver?

Add some words of inspiration before the teams emerge back into the storm in front of the subdued, soggy spectators and the break is over. Time to go again.

I’ve watched enough games of football to know that this doesn’t always work, but last night the difference was amazing, for my team at least. The exact same players playing in the same positions but everything was better. You could see it within 30 seconds of the restart. The effort, the energy and a much better plan.

Southampton scored after seven minutes and again a few minutes later. The crowd was engaged. The noise was up. One more goal. It was great fun to watch. The day ended well.

What’s the point?

TMM is about starting well. Making a plan and setting out to deliver on it.

But it’s an unavoidable reality that things don’t always go to plan. Something breaks, someone’s off sick, and nothing works as you’d hoped. You’ve experienced the working-day equivalent of a star player injury or an opposition wonder-goal, or just not quite getting it right.

It’s ok. It happens to us all. And the advantage you have over a football manager is that you can call ‘half-time’ and take ten minutes to review, refresh the plan and give yourself an inspirational team-talk at any point of the day!

Your day can start badly and still end well.

Anytime your day doesn’t seem to ‘working’, remember there’s always the second half!