Was yesterday a success? Will you win the day today?
How do you know? Did you feel good at the end of the day? Did you feel accomplished?
Sometimes I feel good but after a quick review I realize I did not get the things done I know I needed to get done. Have you ever experienced that?
“Win the Day”
I am not sure where this term originated but I do know that Tim Ferris, well-known author of the 4-Hour Work Week, popularized it. Here is the idea…
Create a list of goals each day that you must achieve. If you achieve all of those goals you’ve won the day.
How to Get Started
Getting started is sometimes the hardest part. Here is what I suggest to help you get your “Win the Day” designed.
1. Identify Your Results-Based Goals
What do you want?
What is motivating you?
What gets you excited?
What do you dream about?
This could be an income goal. Or maybe a vacation you want to book. It could be a weight loss, body fat percentage or particular body image you want to achieve.
Your results-based goal should be visual. Something you can see in your minds-eye. When you think about it, a picture should form so clearly that it is almost real.
I would suggest you have no less than 3, and no more than 5. Pick different areas of your life such as health, work, family, or spirituality.
2. Determine Activities
Next, identify the activities you need to achieve your goals.
The activities should be very clear – as specific as you can get. Don’t just say “workout”. Instead, “complete 30 minutes on the treadmill at incline 2 and speed 6.” How specific is up to you. It just depends on how serious you are in achieving your goal. The moment you decide to avoid specificity is the moment you let yourself off the hook. Don’t let yourself down.
Let’s say you want to lose 10 pounds. The activities associated with that goal might be:
- Consume 1500 calories or less each day
- Complete 30 minutes of cardio 3 days per week
- Meal plan every day for the next day’s meals
Aim to have 3 to 5 activities for each goal.
3. Pick One Activity for Each Goal
You should have 3 to 5 goals identified, each with 3 to 5 activities to achieve that goal.
Now you need to pick just one activity for each goal. Pick the most important one.
If your goal is to lose weight, the most important goal might be to consume a certain number of calories daily.
If your goal is to be more engaged with your kids, it might be spending a certain amount of time focused just on them, without distractions.
If your goal is to grow your business, it might be making a certain number of prospecting calls every day.
You get the idea.
When done you will have between 3 and 5 activities (because you picked the most important one for each goal).
4. Defining Your “Win the Day”
When you “Win the Day” you did what you had to do to get one step closer to hitting your goal. This should be fun! Exciting. Motivating.
Now, write down your activities…not the goals, just the activities.
5. Remind Yourself
Now, identify where you will see it every day. How will you be reminded of these activities? Should you print it out and put it on your desk at work? Possibly write it on your bathroom mirror with a dry erase marker. Set a reminder in your smart phone. Even a combination of a few of these.
Whatever you do, make it fun. Like a game. The last thing you want is for it to feel like a grind. When you see your activities you don’t want to cringe. You want to be reminded that this is a small step to achieve great things.
You can get creative with it and create a mini vision board with your “Win the Day” activities listed, and put it on your home screen on your phone, or the desktop wallpaper on your computer.
6. Take Action!
Even though this is the last step in the “Win the Day” it is the most important step. None of the rest of this matters if you don’t take action.
Once your list is created, get going. That day. Not tomorrow…now!
Win the Week
As you were writing down your activities needed to achieve your goals did you realize that some were not “daily” activities but rather weekly? That is where “Win the Week” comes in.
To “Win the Week” you must “Win the Day” a certain number of days each week. Maybe you separate out your activities based on work versus personal. For example, you may want to make 10 prospecting calls each business day but meditate for 15 minutes every day. The good news is…it is up to you! You get to decide. Your activities will determine the results you get.
Some weekly activities may include:
- Date night with your spouse
- Face to face meeting with at least one prospect
Remember to keep them activity-based and not results-based. The longer the period of time the more tempting it will be to create a results-based objective. Instead of “get one listing appointment every week” it would be “prepare and send 5 comparative market analyses for past customers each Friday.”
I suggest you have between 1 and 5 weekly activities to achieve your goals.
To summarize “Win the Week” you must:
- Win X number (4+) of days each week
- Complete 1-5 weekly activities
Win the Month
I bet you can guess what we do here. Yep, identify the monthly activities you need to complete to achieve your goals. Come up with another 1-3 monthly activities along with winning a certain number of weeks each month (3+).
Don’t Break the Chain
I told you to have fun with this idea. Make it a game!
Jerry Seinfeld created the idea of “Don’t Break the Chain”. The idea is to complete the daily principals (or activities) and mark it on the calendar when done. Every consecutive day you do this you have added to your chain. The game is to avoid breaking the chain.
The longer you keep the chain going indicates you are doing what you need to do to achieve your goal. The longer you build your chain the more momentum you will gain and the less you will be tempted to break it.
How many days in a row can you “Win the Day”?
How many “Win the Weeks” can you build in the chain?
Then see if you can get 12 consecutive “Win the Months” to win the year!
Good luck and let me know how it goes!
