Can you remember what you have achieved?

As a kid I used to keep a diary, I used to write things in it like

"Great day today" or "One of the best days of my life"

And I have no idea why or what I did on those particular days that would tell me, (now years later) what it was that made those days so special. Rather than being a special memory of my childhood, all they were, were a series of bound and dated books with random and meaningless statements in them.

I threw them away.

My diaries and journals of recent times tell me EXACTLY what happened, when and on what day the "special" event occurred. It takes me a few minutes at the end of each day to write down the significant events and is a good way of getting rid of things from my mind that may have (in the past) kept me awake trying to work out just what I needed to do next/ forget about completely.

Once a week I go back and read each daily entry and make a note of anything profound or special, and notes to take forward into the following week. Then I list any significant achievements. Every month I look at the weeklylist. And once a year I do a round up of the entire year.

Why would I bother? Why should you bother?

Well a statement I read on facebook last week went something along thelines of

"I don't feel like I have achieved anything of significance this year"

And then I stopped and began to re-read what I HAD achieved.

One of the problems I have to say for me is this year has been one of fitsand starts. My engine has not been running as smoothly as I would normally like - hence my feeling of not having done enough. But my diaries and daybooks help me put things into perspective. I have for instance achieved around a dozen items off my bucket list this year :-) My diaries and journals- remind me.

Are you documenting your own particular journey through the highways and low ways of life's travels?
Are you making a note of what is working, what is not working and how perhaps you can make the next phase of your journey smoother?
Do you carry a notebook for those "brilliant" ideas,must do stuff and - oh boy I had not forget about ...
How often do you review it?

If you don't have a note book already - please buy one... I use a combination of a small bound one that I carry in my handbag (purse).

AND

I use it.

Would you?

Driving thoughts

I drive a lot of miles each day. Consequently I get to see a lot of "interesting" driving.

Take today for instance. 3 lanes of solid traffic, all moving above the speed limit (happens only in India). One gentleman screams up behind me and begins to inch closer and closer to my car bumper - I don't know about you, but I hate people who think that if they bully and harass you long enough you'll get out of the way. I normally slow down for people like this, I don't care if they are late for dinner - you don't ride my bumper and hope that I will give in gracefully. Thankfully the 2 cars either side of me didn't let the idiot through either.

Unfortunately we couldn't play that game for long because he weaved through us at the next set of traffic lights, and promptly played dodgems through the traffic - and then I caught up with him.

He was driving a company vehicle, emblazoned with the corporate logo, signage and telephone number on the back. So, making sure my car was in neutral, handbrake on I got out my notebook and pen and wrote down his number plate and I will be speaking with the company tomorrow.

What (and I don't know which adjective to use here) amused / amazed / horrified me - a little while later I caught up with the same idiot who had decided to slow down and was doing 20 kilometres below the speed limit - because between his hands on the top of the steering wheel was a BOOK. He was reading and driving at the same time. I just wish I could have taken a picture, because you just had to see it to believe it. It was probably an appointments book, which makes it even worse. What company insists their employees have to cram so many appointments into a single day, they are not given enough time between appointments to make the drive in a safe manner?

For the owners of the organisations who read this - a word of advice for your next team meeting - your business is on show all the time if you have corporate vehicles emblazoned with your name on it. Similarly everytime someone wears a "uniform" and has the name of the company/ store stuck across their body somewhere.

My question to you as you go about your day is this

Are the people who work for you / you work with walking the walk - or should they be walking the plank?

Apologies for the vent-out!

The Caucus Race

'What is a Caucus-race?'...

Have you ever felt your life was like the caucus race? Not knowing what you've done, how far you've gone or indeed how far left there is to go.

While the challenge does help, it helps even more if you know what you want and what you are going to do every day to reach it...

So a couple of easy questions to begin with:

1. how many hours are there in a day? and
2. how many half hours are there?

Out of those 24 hours or 48 half hours per day do you spend working onyour challenges?

Ok, you say you need more time, well lets do some simple arithmetic

From the 24 hours

- take away the time you sleep
- travelling time to and from work
- the time at work - when you are working
- the time you waste while at work (be honest)
- how much time you take for breaks including lunch
- what time you spend at home - break it down, what time do you spend fetching takeout, cooking dinner, eating it, doing the dishes and chores, supervising homework or doing your own
- how much time do you spend watching tv or playing games, time on facebookor twitter (that isn't business related)?
- how much time do you spend reading and responding to emails

now - how much time do you spend on your challenges?

If you are completely honest, there will be blocks of time when you could be more productive. The time when you get to work for instance, while the computer is warming up and you are wafting for the kettle to boil or the caffeine to kick in. Then there is the mid morning slump, the time you wander down the corridor to find someone to have a natter to; Lunch time - do you really need to spend all that time eating and socialsing? Mid afternoon - that time you crave something sweet to get you through the rest of the afternoon.

We can of course add in all the time you spend in front of the computer and / or tv

And the commute to and from work.

If you look at this way, it doesn't take much to dramatically increase your productivity levels. All you have to be is more aware of the time you spend and decide if that IS the way you want to spend that time.

For example:
Listen to something productive in the car rather than drive time radio,save yourself the pain of all the inane blather and learn something new,or listen to the audio books and programs you have purchased over the years and never got around to it. Then there is the time you spend on the train or the bus to work. Walk during half your lunch break or do daily workout while walking through the workplace and engage with colleagues at the same time.

For today though all I would ask is that you balance your "normal" day to day stuff. Be honest about where you are spending your time and work out ways you can incorporate more time for those challenges you havelaid down for yourselves.

You won't always get it right, sometimes it may seem like it's 2 steps forward and 1 step back... but as long as the general momentum is forward you will do better than 90% of the rest of the population.

So go ahead... let me know if it worked for you!!