INL UPDATE 2 - Stay ahead of the game

Stay ahead of the game. What does that mean? Who does it describe? What is the game? Those are the questions you need to ask yourself to start to really understand the meaning of this English idiom, you must dissect its true definition. Ahead, means further forward in space; in the line of one's forward motion or in the lead to achieve a higher value than previously. People are more susceptive to deviation from one’s goals and forget to carefully plan out each step. It’s recommended, because not all people plan ahead. Most people live in the now, and waste precious energy on non-directional decisions. By implementing routine planning you can be the one who leads the pack and stays ahead in life. How to do this you say?

Pick a regular day and time, for example, every Sunday night at 8pm.

You sit down and plan in 4 categories:

• Hourly;
• Daily;
• Monthly;
• and yearly.

It’ll paint a clearer picture of your direction. Trust me it’ll do wonders to your time management performance as well. It might raise a question about when to plan the monthly and yearly categories effectively. My answer, is to set them when you have them, and verify them monthly to see if you still have the same monthly and yearly goals as you did before. This encourages precision.

Start by making your bed!

It’s a simple task that is easy to complete quickly. By having this as your first goal can help you appreciate the beauty of the little things in life and realizing that if you don’t know how to do the little things in life, then you will never know how to do the big things. You can count on that.

Proceed to pump out 25 pushups

It may be tough but will get your blood pumping and jolt you into a new day. Remember you are human, a biological creature that needs energy to function properly and in order to have that energy circulate properly, one must train their body in physical fitness as well as their mental fitness, to increase your chances of living a longer, happier, and most importantly, a healthier life. In the end, these are the only things that we are given in this life. A mind, a body, and a lifetime.

The remainder of your hourly goals are more susceptible to change, based on proper decision making skills through listening to your mind, gut, and heart. This cannot be taught through words. One must’ve had a mentor to learn the balance of all three sources of influence during a decision making process.

Daily goals can be set in an array like so, waking up every day at a specific time and sticking to it with no excuses, Monday through Friday wake up at 5am, get some writing done in the morning. Studies have shown that those who do some creative writing or journal writing in the morning have more brain activity to essentially have a  faster and more receptive decision making process throughout the day.

The moral of this post is to constantly break your boundaries by effective planning. Stagnation is monotonous. It has no momentum and will get you nowhere. By being ahead of the pack will change your approach to life greatly. Remember fellow readers that to staying ahead means, you’re in it to win it!