What is a Successful Day?
Do you ever get overwhelmed and need some direction? Yeah, me too. Everything pulls at me. I can’t focus. I don’t know where to start.
Here’s a formula for getting clear on what success looks like:
A Successful Day = Maintain Restorative Habits + Make Progress on a Significant Project
Maintain Restorative Habits
Do those things that keep you healthy. It’s as simple as that.
No one can run on empty for very long. When you attempt to produce something meaningful from emptiness, you’ll likely end up frustrated. Even more important than making meaningful contributions, if you’re going to consistently live for Jesus, you must restore your soul, mind, and body.
A life unattended does not generally drift toward health, that’s why you must be careful to restore. More than likely, there’s some area of your life that has been neglected on one level or another. It’s struggling. It’s not where you want it to be.
You didn’t intend to eat poorly, overspend, or become cold towards your spouse. But over time you arrived at a less than desirable life.
Restorative habits keep the foundations strong.
Here are my core restorative habits.
- Read in my Bible
- Pray to God
- Read in a book
- Write in my journal
- Walk around outside
- Do Pushups
These things require a chunk of time. If it feels difficult to devote time to the basics, you may want to think about it this way: “I can’t afford not to keep my soul, heart, and body restored!”
If you want to fulfill your calling, you’ll need to maintain the habits that set a foundation for progress.
Make Progress on a Significant Project
In the words of “The Four Disciplines of Execution”, the “whirlwind” will always exist. There will always be myriad things that fight for your attention. It doesn’t go away. There are things to do, people to meet, and deadlines to uphold.
Don’t confuse the whirlwind with progress.
When you’re living in the whirlwind, you end the day and say “I did a lot of stuff, but what did I accomplish?”
That’s why you must fight for progress. Even if it’s a mere sliver of progress!
Identify what is significant and take one step. Taking that first step opens the door to greater progress.