- Believe that you can get better;
- Just start getting better.
- Even a tiny dosage of betterment is fine.
- Start with simplifying.
- Ask: do you have a personal betterment plan?
- Yes or no. If no, develop one; if yes, move forward.
- Get clear on your chief goals;
- Chief goals which are aligned with your personal betterment vision.
- Then bring focus, laser focus.
- Get free from distractions. No TV, No Newspapers, No unimportant (maybe urgent) actions.
- Well, some TV or some Newspapers are fine but you got the idea. Restrict its use.
- Can you too not become mobile-free?
- I know it’s hard, so keep at least a couple of mobile-less hours every day.
- And see the results.
- Do effective use of the internet.
- Agreed that the Internet is a great servant;
- But at the same time, it’s a terrible master too.
- Less email, fewer messenger notifications, less Twitter and less Facebook.
- You might have two days off per week. Use one for family, half to do things you like but half for reflecting on how you are doing;
- Or even if you have just one day off, use a couple of hours at least for reflecting on how you are doing.
- Get clear on what ‘done‘ looks like;
- Keep to-do lists;
- Keep prioritized to-do lists;
- Keep prioritized lists and loop through it;
- Even better: Keep ‘Items not-to-do’ list and validate your actions against it;
- In the loop, keep checking ‘done’ items off the list;
- Celebrate this small chunk of accomplishment and move on to the next list item.
- You’re just getting better, aren’t you?
- You might want to add a few more items to the list and re-prioritize the list again;
- and, keep looping through it.
- You’re getting better. Indeed, you are.
- Read and learn from similar lists by reading Nicholas Bate’s superb blog.
- In summary: Believe in yourself, get clear on goals. Start, make some progress. Retrospect how you are doing and align your actions; Repeat until you have got better.
…and the world will be a better place.