My latest overused iPhone app is a GPS that helps you find the shortest routes, avoid traffic jams and red light cameras. I’m so addicted that I turn it on even when I know the way. Recently, while driving my niece to swim class, I had the feeling I was off course. I kept going, but past experience told me I was going out of the way. So, I pulled to the side of the road and sure enough, I’d put in the wrong town. If I hadn’t made the course correction, I would have ended up in the wrong place.
As we draw closer to 2016, I’d like to share a daily mental reset tool that you can use to stay on track! It will help you deal with procrastination and increase productivity. It is the practice of Zero-based thinking, which aims at improving our decision making process. Its premise is that by imagining ourselves back at a point or place in life in the past before we made a particular decision, we have the opportunity to make new choices for the future. Practicing zero-based thinking help us avoid repeating the same mistakes.
In a nutshell, we use 20/20 hindsight to determine future activities and plans. Applying it daily helps us save time and mistakes as we make quick-course corrections in our attitudes, behaviors and practices. Every day, we ask ourselves, “Knowing what I know today, what would I have done differently?” We should spend 5-10 minutes at the end of each night evaluating how the day’s decisions impacted us in these areas:
Relationships: Our key relationships are pivotal to our definition of life and self. Most of us struggle to create the right life balance that honors our relationships, while growing our careers and pursuing our passions. Each night, we must be intentional about examining how we treated our core relationships. Did our decisions bring us closer or drive us apart? Did we maximize our time together? We don’t wait for things to get bad to improve—it’s about always getting better.
Business: We all have experienced the customer, the project or the coworker from hell. We dread them because they seem to siphon life out of us one painful interaction at a time. While it may feel like we don’t have options in this area because a paycheck is not a luxury, but a necessity…we do! Take time each day to look for the place or the moment where you could have done something differently. Look for patterns that may be impacting your productivity and attitude. Determine what can be changed and change it!
Emotional Health: As much as I can, I try to avoid emotional baggage. While I’m not perfect in this pursuit, I make a disciplined effort to leave foolishness behind me on a daily basis. It is important to take stock each day of where you are investing your emotional energy and thoughts. If you’re spending too much time in negative spaces, you have to be intentional about changing your focus.
Do Your Work! Spend time each night for the next week applying zero-based thinking to the day. Start the next day clear on what you will do differently.
Define Your Wealth! “I see new opportunities with each day’s horizon.”
Named the “North America’s Next Greatest Speaker” by eWomenNetwork, Coach Felicia is a Certified Executive Coach who empowers her clients to “Turn their Worth into Wealth” as she partners with them to DISCOVER their WORTH, DO their WORK and DEFINE their WEALTH. Get more insight, download the FREE “8 Choices Winners Must Make!” seminar MP3 at www.coachfelicia.com!
