“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out”. – Robert Collier
It’s Sunday morning and this week has been very productive on a number of fronts. My new website went live yesterday, a new workshop on marketing is coming together, and I have managed to achieve a reasonable degree of balance between family and work.
My website, which is the culmination of eighteen months work has, at times tested my sanity, shown me how much I can procrastinate, and highlighted how perfectionism can cause paralysis and indecision. It has been an invaluable exercise as it has forced me to focus on what I should be doing and what I love doing – hopefully the two are the same! The story of the site I will leave for another day.
Which brings me to the name of the blog – Do It Today. Whether you are searching for business success or personal success, whatever you want to achieve always starts with the first step, and then the next step, and so on - until you reach your goal. The trouble is, we often stumble, don’t take the next step, or just sit down and think about taking the next step. Lack of energy, motivation, and above all self-discipline hold us back.
What we need to do is work out where we are, where we want to go, and how we are going to get there. Then we need to focus every single day on the goals that will get us there. The mantra you should adopt each day from now on is - Do it Today! Fundamental to this ‘philosophy’ is the concept of Kaizen which means daily incremental progress. The goal here is to have a disciplined approach to creating daily incremental improvements. Kaizen is a Japanese word that captures the spirit of incremental activity perfectly. It focuses on continuous improvement.
Rather than move towards your goal in fits and starts, a more effective approach is to create daily habits and routines that move you constantly forward by small increments. You build up over time a momentum that creates quantum leaps in pogress and performance. There is a corresponding increase in energy, motivation and confidence.
There is a very good reason why I have named my blog - Do It Today. I have learned over the years that you may well have a vision, you may have determined your purpose, you may be clear about your values and beliefs, you may have a plan, you may be organised and know your priorities – but if you don’t actually do the right ‘things’ and do those ‘things’ every day, then you will never achieve your goals.
My blog is not just be about doing the right ‘things’ every day, it is also about how you create business and personal success in a world where we struggle to keep up with the speed of change, where we do not know how to deal with information overload, where too many choices lead to chronic procrastination, and where lack of balance in our lives leads to a belief that we are no longer in control.
So, my ‘journal’ will let you know how I get things done, or sometimes don’t, and it will be full of tips, strategies, book reviews and loads of information that will help you to create both business and personal success.
By the way – what are you going to do today?
