Do these 12 steps to give your best.
Each one of us has had sleepless nights and failed in life. We all skip a beat when we think of failure.
I remember that night when I hid my face under a blanket, avoiding everyone. I could not get admission to the best institute in the country. It shattered my heart, and I felt like a louse that anyone could squash. Also, I churned my brain to find someone to blame.
But I worked for one of the best companies in its industry and received a special award in the first year of my career. It thrilled me. I was roaring like a tiger, as if I was changing the world.
Clearly, I handled both my successes and failures differently. I never planned to get an award, it just happened.
But I had excuses for each of my failures, be it in studies, work or relationships. I blamed people, friends, and family for my failures.
When I think now, I feel like I did not practice enough. Maybe not even close to half of 10000 hours.
Malcolm Gladwell says in Outliers that you have to practice ten thousand hours to become an expert. He mentions that ten thousand hours is the number of greatness.
The Beatles, who changed the face of music in America in 1964, did not do so by accident. Their band had been around since 1957, and in the time between 1960 and 1962, they had already played 1200 nights. Most of them today do not even play that much in their entire career.
Bill Gates had exposure to computer programming in 1968 as an eighth-grader. By the time Gates dropped out of Harvard after his sophomore year to start his own company, he had been programming for practically seven years in a row. He was well beyond 10000 hours of programming experience.
Of course, such people had an encouraging environment. Perhaps environment and people support only when you show an irrepressible will to excel in life. Necessary is to give your best regardless of the circumstances, and the environment takes its own shape.
By following these 12 steps, you will ensure you put your best effort into every endeavor you undertake.
1.Get Clear on Why You Want to Achieve Your Goal?
Can you envision the benefits in the long run of 5 to 10 years? Willingly, you want to pursue the goal. You are under no pressure from anyone.
2. Bring Your Day on a Paper.
List all your regular and irregular tasks for the past two weeks.
- Divide them into —
You will die , if you don’t do this—Critical—Others. - Record the time spent on each of your activities.
Verify if you forgot to add anything, like watching tv, calling friends, cooking, shopping for groceries, reading on medium, blogs or books, networking, chewing social candy on — Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr, Reddit, Tinder, etc.
In the end, you must see your 24 hours on paper.
3. Categorize Your Desired Goal into Right Space.
Eating, sleeping and your goal should be in the same bracket- You will die , if you don’t do this. Only then your mind will subconsciously drive you to aim for it.
4. Allot Hours to Your Goal.
If you already work an 8-hour shift, and your current goal is to excel in your passion, hobby, or create a side hustle, then
- Subtract your work time (8 hours) and sleep time (6 hours), then it left you with 10 hours.
Check whether you spend 30% — 3 to 4 hours — of your remaining time of 10 hours on your goal?
If not, then allocate this time to pursue your goal.
- But if your goal will be your only earning medium, such as a business, writing, art and craft, then check on average if your 40% of time — 10 to 12 hours — goes into it.
If not, then adjust your day. Remember that 10000 hour rule, even half is sufficient if you are satisfied in half of what Bill Gates has achieved.
Allocate the remaining time to family responsibilities and entertaining activities.
5. Next, Figure Out Your Most Efficient Time.
What we see, hear and discuss before work time has a big impact on our efficiency. For Example- You will not write a good article if you start it right after watching ill effects of pandemic over the world.
The best time to write or do is when you have a balanced or a decluttered mind.
Try doing this activity at different times of the day and find out your best time. Find out if you are a night owl or an early riser? I am an early riser.
Secure this time, whether Bill Gates only has that time to meet with you. Ignore him. If he needs you, he will give you another time.
6. Collaborate with Your Partner.
Explain to your spouse, partner how important it is to you and how it would benefit your family. This will stop you from attending unnecessary parties, dinners, friendship chats and many other things. However, also understand that your partner may have similar ambitions. Plan your day together with a minimal impact on each of your personal life.
But remember that success comes with some sacrifices. Decide what sacrifices you are ready to make.
7. Be Consistent.
Consistency is the mother of all success. Check how consistent you are in keeping the same routine. You can also calculate the average time spent in a week or a 3-day period. Intermittent commitment does not help.
It is like a break from an exercise routine. When you exercise again from a 2-month break, you need time to get the pace, acclimatize your body again before you feel like how you used to do in the past. Similar is with other activities. You need to be consistent throughout.
8. Check Your Environment and Who You Interact With.
List people. Think about who actually motivates you, who makes you laugh in all circumstances or the guy you do not feel judged by. Do not let them go.
Separate yourself from people — who criticize or demotivate you. Break contact with — who are frustrated in their own lives. Such people only radiate negative energy, do not receive them, avoid them.
9. Let People Judge You.
Do not care about people’s judgment. You will never know what others think. It may be your assumption only and you cannot prove it. Do not fall into this trap. It is difficult to get out of it.
10. Work for Excellence.
Customers or people do not settle for mediocre things. They want the best, only then comes the money or success. If your target is money, then you take action keeping money in mind and you never stretch yourself too much to achieve that highest order of excellence. Money comes in through consistent efforts to achieve excellence.
11. Reach Out to People.
Regularly reflect on your progress and match it with people’s expectations. Never hesitate to seek advice. Bury your ego and reach out to people. It doesn’t matter what the person will think when you ask for help. Realign, adjust and adopt new practices to improve your working style. Only result matters. Do remember that people’s perception is your only reality. Read it again — People’s perception is your only reality. You will do a big mistake if you ignore it.
12. Do Not Overwhelm Yourself with Tiny Success.
Do not get overwhelmed by tiny successes, it can distract you, make you complacent, and hinder you from reaching the next level. It should be just another stepping stone you need to climb with grace. Celebrate it but not like taking an off for a week. Keep doing your work.
This, in fact, is the best time to step up your work to go to the next level. You will have the highest order of confidence in your abilities, channelize it with the right actions. For example, I was not afraid to take a bigger project when I got that award in my first year of the profession. It helped me to take bigger tasks without getting affected by underlying risks.
In the end, plan, reflect, realign your acts to give your best effort towards your goal. Without it, you can take all the time in the world to reach your goal, but the world does not have all the time for you. Only philosophers can wait for you, not people with money who can invest in you. Plan and take action.
This post has been written as part of Blogchatter’s #MyFriendAlexa campaign.
This post has also been published on my medium profile.
