We hope you have had a wonderful holiday season!  It's a new year, and that time when many of us reassess our busy lives and think about what we want to accomplish or do to balance our lives during the next year. With that in mind, John Maxwell says, "You can't be someone you've never been before without doing something you've never done before."

 

New Year’s Resolutions is a wish or a promise we make to ourselves to do something. According to U.S. News & Report, the failure for New Year’s resolutions is to be about 80 percent, and most of us lose our resolve by mid-February. The problem may be in the tradition itself. 

 

Maybe it's about living intentionally by setting and achieving goals instead of making and breaking promises to ourselves. We can't just think about it; we have to

do it!  Sometimes this is much easier said than done. I get it!

 

Gregg Burgess, with Masters Leadership, recommends to keep a journal and format it with the acronym F.I.R.S.T.  The purpose of creating this journaling format is to organize every single day of your life. By writing it down, Daily F.I.R.S.T. will categorize your thoughts, which will result in increased focus and accomplishment of goals.

 

He suggests writing down these priorities every night for thirty days. He says that by writing it down, sleeping on the concepts, and reviewing them again in the morning, the priorities will be embedded in your subconscious, helping you stay on track and live intentionally.

 

Daily F.I.R.S.T.

 

Fitness: How will I increase my physical fitness?  Write down what exercises you are going to do to improve your fitness. Also, write down how you plan to eat healthily. No matter how intense your workouts may be, your diet plays a significant role in your overall fitness. Be aware of your health habits.

 

Invest (in yourself): How will I find or further my purpose in life? Journal about a book you are reading and how long you will spend reading it the next day. Listen to a podcast or a message regarding success, productivity, focus, or whatever will help you find or further your purpose. Intentionally worth the sacrifice, invest in yourself every day. It may take sacrificing something, but if it is your purpose, it is. Taking action is up to you.

 

Relationships: How will I strengthen the connections in my life? If your home life and personal life are right, it will increase your productivity in your profession. Intentionally make efforts every day to maintain and improve the connections in your relationships. It includes the obvious; spouses, children, friends. Buy your wife flowers, make someone their favorite meal, play soccer with your kids, etc.

It also includes those that we resent, cannot forgive, despise, etc. These emotions take up a precious space of our capacity to succeed and be productive. Whomever this may be in your life, contact them, and make amends. Whether they receive it or not is up to them but free yourself of this distraction. Our emotions are contagious.

 

Success: What am I going to accomplish that will make me productive? It should be your daily high priority “to do” list. Keep this list limited to two or three things of high importance. Organize your schedule to allow time to focus on these tasks and these tasks only. Get them completed. All the other tasks can wait. If the other things were necessary, it would have made a list for the Daily F.I.R.S.T.

Stuff comes up throughout the day, set aside time to “put out the fires” that arise. Focus on productivity, and others will follow.

 

As Mark Twain once said, "If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it's your job to eat two frogs, it's best to eat the biggest one first."

 

The frog is that one thing you have on your to-do list that you have no motivation to do and that you're most likely to procrastinate. Eating the frog means JUST DO IT, otherwise, the frog will eat you, meaning that you'll end up delaying it the whole day.

 

Time Wasters: What have I recognized as time-wasters, and how will I reduce/eliminate them to increase my daily productivity? For many of us, this is social media, email, phone, and people. Find a way to limit these distractions, and you will notice the increase in productivity. Also, by managing your time and sticking to your Daily F.I.R.S.T., you will find that you do not have time for these “time wasters." Never underestimate the compounding effects of consistency.

 

Take action, build a habit, and plan. Live intentionally today and do something you’ve never done before.

 

Happy New Year!

Michelle

The Yuba-Sutter Chamber is a catalyst for business growth specific to business. Members benefit from a full range of services and tools that can be a catalyst for their growth.

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1300 Franklin Rd., Yuba City, CA. 95993

530-743-6501

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Yuba Sutter Chamber of Commerce | 1300 Franklin Road | Yuba City, CA 95993