Plan to Be Better Tomorrow Than You are Today

Many of us have a clear picture of our life’s purpose. We may have even established our vision and plan for how to get there. Even with that clarity it is not uncommon for us to be uncertain about how to “move the needle” from one day to the next.  If you’re at all like me, the challenge comes from not being sure how to actually push yourself so that you’re better tomorrow than today. For me, being successful in this comes through these daily disciplines:

• Remind Myself of My “Why” – If I’m not motivated about what I’m doing, it’s likely that tomorrow will be met with a sense of duty or obligation. I have to do a pressure test with myself to make sure that my heart is still in it, that my “why” is compelling enough that it will propel me forward.
• Be Intentional About My Plan – For me, a better tomorrow equals being a better coach than I am today. That means that my calendar shows activities that, when completed, will have equipped me to be great at something tomorrow that I was good at today.
• Get Back To The Basics – Sometimes I can keep myself from moving forward by trying to be too fancy or making things too complex or keeping up with the latest trend. In reality, my goals for tomorrow will be achieved by a more intent focus on things like listening with the objective of learning, asking exploratory questions, and other foundational basics.
• Do One Thing With Excellence – I would rather be awesome at one thing than be average at a bunch of things. My endeavors now are to not try to do too much, but to hone in on that one thing where I can really make a difference.
• Spend Time Reflecting – I can’t make myself better tomorrow if I’m not spending time evaluating today. I record the best practices so that I don’t reinvent the wheel on something that went well. I identify where I failed or faltered so that I don’t repeat the same mistake.

When I reflect back on yesterday, I want to be able to say that I pushed myself, and that as a result,
I am better today than I was yesterday. What disciplines do you have in place to be better tomorrow than you are today?