As someone desirous of success, the way you spend your time is crucial.
While the choice is yours in how to spend your day, the best way to maximize your time is by organizing it. You must imbibe the discipline of starting each day in an organized way and you will achieve more results than you can imagine.
Here are 5 simple steps for achieving an organized and result-oriented day.
Make A To Do List: Make a list the evening before of things you have to do tomorrow. Don’t fall into the habit of waking up in the morning not knowing the direction of your day. It is possible to lose the direction for ones entire life if you keep loosing direction for each day because your life is the sum total of each day you spend on earth. Prioritize every item in the sequence it should be accomplished. When you wake up in the morning, you will have a clear-cut guide for everything that must be done.
Be Wary of Distraction: Very often a plan or schedule gets abandoned and you go off track because of distraction. Now, if you find that you constantly get off track by distraction, you can set a timer to help you monitor your time. For example you can set an alarm to go off every 30 minutes. Every time it sounds, be sure you are working on what you originally planned. If you are not, stop what you are doing and get back on schedule. Most distractions are unnecessary.
Always Re-confirm your Appointments: if you have an appointment during the day, always call to confirm before you leave your office. This will ensure that the person you are meeting did not forget about the appointment. In addition, if there is going to be a long waiting time you can occupy that with reading, listening to self development materials. Just make sure that the waiting time is occupied with a productive activity.
Strike off Completed Task: Every time you finish something, cross it off in your-to-do-list. This gives you a sense of accomplishment throughout the day.
Do a Final Check: At the end of the day, take one final look at your list. How many items were you able to accomplish? Are there only one or two things left undone or many? If there were just a few undone, simply move them to tomorrow’s list. If there were many undone, and you worked diligently on everything all day, then you probably had too many things on your list to begin with.
Do a re-think of how many things you can possibly do in a given day. Remember you only have 24 hours and you should be able to maximize them.
Enjoy your day.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
Your life can be meaningful – Part 2
It’s exciting to have you back on fresh motivation again today.
Yesterday, I did say that for you to live a meaningful life, it is crucial for you to be able to answer some very fundamental life questions. You must also picture how you want to end your life. Is it with satisfaction emanating from the fact that you found meaning for your life or is it with chronic bitterness and regret resulting from having lived your life without finding its meaning.
Please, understand that life has no return match. You have just this one life time and you must make up your mind to live it to its fullness.
Knowing how to use this one life to its fullest requires wisdom and skill much more than knowledge. Wisdom is fundamentally different and more important than knowledge.
Knowledge is the accumulation of facts while wisdom is the application of relevant facts to ones life to ensure that one lives meaningfully.
It does not matter where you are and how much time you have wasted your life can still have meaning.
I came across the story of a 60 year old woman who after retirement from public service discovered that her artistic gift had been lying dormant in her for 60 years. Out of nothing to do and not stay idle in retirement, she started painting and went on to have a flourishing life as an artist for the next 20 years. Reflecting on her life shortly before she died at the age of 80, she said thanks be to God that I found my life. I would have died miserably knowing what I should have done and not do it.
Before she died, one of her paintings was sold for 1 million dollars and commenting on that. She said “Can you imagine that I would have gone to the grave with 1m dollars which was more than the salary I earned in 20 years?
Another man at 50 years of age became frustrated on his job and decided to follow his passion of becoming a medical doctor. At 50 years of age. He enrolled in medical school, graduated at 56 and practiced for 20 years during which he invented a vaccination against a dreadful disease.
He would have gone to the grave denying humanity of that vaccination. Do you know you might be denying humanity a lot of goodies just because you are not living the kind of life you were meant to live?
Do you know that the consequence of not finding your purpose in life can be devastating for others as well as for you? Won’t it be great for you to take some time off for reflection? Reflect on how you have lived so far. It does not matter how old you are. Reflect on how well or otherwise you have lived. Will I end life with deep satisfaction and fulfillment if I continue this way or is it going to be a bitter end? I will leave you with that today.
Relax, rejoice and enjoy your day.
Yesterday, I did say that for you to live a meaningful life, it is crucial for you to be able to answer some very fundamental life questions. You must also picture how you want to end your life. Is it with satisfaction emanating from the fact that you found meaning for your life or is it with chronic bitterness and regret resulting from having lived your life without finding its meaning.
Please, understand that life has no return match. You have just this one life time and you must make up your mind to live it to its fullness.
Knowing how to use this one life to its fullest requires wisdom and skill much more than knowledge. Wisdom is fundamentally different and more important than knowledge.
Knowledge is the accumulation of facts while wisdom is the application of relevant facts to ones life to ensure that one lives meaningfully.
It does not matter where you are and how much time you have wasted your life can still have meaning.
I came across the story of a 60 year old woman who after retirement from public service discovered that her artistic gift had been lying dormant in her for 60 years. Out of nothing to do and not stay idle in retirement, she started painting and went on to have a flourishing life as an artist for the next 20 years. Reflecting on her life shortly before she died at the age of 80, she said thanks be to God that I found my life. I would have died miserably knowing what I should have done and not do it.
Before she died, one of her paintings was sold for 1 million dollars and commenting on that. She said “Can you imagine that I would have gone to the grave with 1m dollars which was more than the salary I earned in 20 years?
Another man at 50 years of age became frustrated on his job and decided to follow his passion of becoming a medical doctor. At 50 years of age. He enrolled in medical school, graduated at 56 and practiced for 20 years during which he invented a vaccination against a dreadful disease.
He would have gone to the grave denying humanity of that vaccination. Do you know you might be denying humanity a lot of goodies just because you are not living the kind of life you were meant to live?
Do you know that the consequence of not finding your purpose in life can be devastating for others as well as for you? Won’t it be great for you to take some time off for reflection? Reflect on how you have lived so far. It does not matter how old you are. Reflect on how well or otherwise you have lived. Will I end life with deep satisfaction and fulfillment if I continue this way or is it going to be a bitter end? I will leave you with that today.
Relax, rejoice and enjoy your day.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Your Life Can Be Meaningful
There are certain questions in life that have hunted millions people all over the world for decades. Questions such as: What do I do for my life to have meaning? Where am I from? Why am I here on earth? and a host of others. These are questions that anyone who desires to live a meaningful life must provide answers to God’s word in Psalms 90:12 says “So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom”.
Dear friend, one of the questions that you must repeatedly ask yourself in order to live a meaningful life is how I intend to end my life? With deep satisfaction emanating from the fact that I have lived a fulfilled life or Is it going to be with chronic bitterness and regret just because I didn’t live the life I was meant to live? A wise man once said and I quote “The greatest tragedy in life is to spend your whole life fishing only to discover that it was not fish you were looking for”.
A young man was having a father/son discussion with his dad who was an accomplished medical doctor. He asked his dad what it was like to celebrate 50 years as an accomplished physician. You know son, replied his dad I should have been an accountant. He went further to tell his son that the only part of his medical practice that he enjoyed was that of keeping the accounts. It was a great shock for this young lad to learn that his father regretted being a medical doctor after 50 years of practice.
Dear friend, you must make up your mind that when your days are done here on earth, and it is time to pass on to the life beyond you won’t be filled with regrets just because you didn’t live as you ought to. Before I end this article, remember you must learn to number your days, so that you can gain a heart of wisdom.
Have a great day.
Enjoy!
Tunde Afe
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Take the limits off your self - Part 2
A great evangelist once said “fear knocked at my door. Faith answered and there was no one there. The fear of rejection has killed many destinies. It is the reason why a lot of people perform badly at interviews”.
Please note that the whole concept of rejection is false. Rejection does not really exist. The word of God says “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he”. If you think rejection, you’ll be rejected.
Mark Twain once commented “I have lived a long life and had many troubles most of which never happened”. Now you might want to ask, why does fear like to take the place of faith? The two have a lot in common- both believe that what you cannot see will happen.
Faith ends where fear starts and fear ends where faith enters. Please note that your worst imagination almost never happens.
Success will come your way this year if you start acting like a success before you are one. Put the power of imagination to work. Start to imagine yourself successful. Start to imagine that you already have everything you want.
Create a mental picture of your actual future. The future you can’t picture, you won’t feature. You will always attract to yourself those things that match your mindset. If you work with this frame of mind, even those things that are currently against you will start to work together for your good. You can do whatever god says you can do.
He is the one that teaches us to profit. You can scale walls, you can overcome obstacles, you can do all things through Christ that strengthens you. The only one who can stop you is YOU. Stop putting water in your own boat stop dreaming up thousands of reasons why you can’t do what you want to do.
All you need is just one reason why you can. Remember, you can do all things through Christ that strengthens you. You can make it through anything in the One who makes you who you are.
Stop building a case against yourself. A Jewish admonition says “Surviving it all up friends, I would say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious- the best, not the worst; the beautiful not the ugly things to praise not things to curse”.
It’s a new day for you. Nothing can stop you. Go out today and win.
Enjoy!
Please note that the whole concept of rejection is false. Rejection does not really exist. The word of God says “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he”. If you think rejection, you’ll be rejected.
Mark Twain once commented “I have lived a long life and had many troubles most of which never happened”. Now you might want to ask, why does fear like to take the place of faith? The two have a lot in common- both believe that what you cannot see will happen.
Faith ends where fear starts and fear ends where faith enters. Please note that your worst imagination almost never happens.
Success will come your way this year if you start acting like a success before you are one. Put the power of imagination to work. Start to imagine yourself successful. Start to imagine that you already have everything you want.
Create a mental picture of your actual future. The future you can’t picture, you won’t feature. You will always attract to yourself those things that match your mindset. If you work with this frame of mind, even those things that are currently against you will start to work together for your good. You can do whatever god says you can do.
He is the one that teaches us to profit. You can scale walls, you can overcome obstacles, you can do all things through Christ that strengthens you. The only one who can stop you is YOU. Stop putting water in your own boat stop dreaming up thousands of reasons why you can’t do what you want to do.
All you need is just one reason why you can. Remember, you can do all things through Christ that strengthens you. You can make it through anything in the One who makes you who you are.
Stop building a case against yourself. A Jewish admonition says “Surviving it all up friends, I would say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious- the best, not the worst; the beautiful not the ugly things to praise not things to curse”.
It’s a new day for you. Nothing can stop you. Go out today and win.
Enjoy!
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Take the limits off yourself
On a spring evening some years ago, Nora Profit decided to attend a musical concert where Salome Bey was performing. Even though, half the seats were empty, the moment was exciting as the singers voice filled the room and brought the theater to life. Nora profit was so moved by Salome’s performance, yet disappointed about the sparse audience, she therefore decided to write an article to help promote her.
The next day, Nora phoned the theater where the singer Salome bey was appearing, acting like a professional said “may I speak with Salome Bey please” from the other end came the reply: “Hello, this is Salome” Nora Profit replied “I am writing an article for essence magazine, spotlighting your singing achievements. Is it possible for us to meet so that we might talk about your career? It suddenly occurred to Nora that she had never written before.
As a matter of fact, no one in essence magazine knows her. She became terribly afraid. She eventually met with Salome Bey, conducted the interview and when the article was ready, she sent it to Essence magazine. Three weeks later, a reply came from the editor of essence magazine. Out of fear that the article had been rejected, Nora refused to open the envelope.
Hear what she said: “how could I ever thought that I could compete in a world of professional writers who make their living writing? How stupid of me?” knowing she couldn’t face the rejection letter with all the reasons why her manuscript was rejected, she threw the unopened envelope closet and promptly forgot about it concluding that the whole ordeal was a bad experience.
Five years letter while cleaning out her apartment preparing to move to another state to take a job in sales, Nora came across an unopened envelope to her in her own handwriting, she quickly opened the envelope the envelope and read the editor’s letter in disbelief;
“Dear ms Profit,
Your story on Salome Bey is fantastic. We need some additional quotes. Please add those and return the article immediately. We would like to publish your story in the next issue. Wao!
Nora was shocked. It took her a long time to recover. The fear of rejection had cost her a great deal. She lost a lot of money and having her article appeared in a major magazine. The fear of rejection also cost her years of enjoyable and productive writing.
Though she began a faithful career in writing after the incident, she lost over7 years of productive use of her gifts. Now, this is her summary of the whole experience; “You can’t afford to doubt yourself.
Dear reader, if you don’t believe in what God has deposited in you, no one can believe in you.
As from today, start to have confidence in yourself and your abilities. Stop doubting yourself. Stop allowing fear to take control of you.
It is a new day for you.
Stay confident.
Tunde Afe
The next day, Nora phoned the theater where the singer Salome bey was appearing, acting like a professional said “may I speak with Salome Bey please” from the other end came the reply: “Hello, this is Salome” Nora Profit replied “I am writing an article for essence magazine, spotlighting your singing achievements. Is it possible for us to meet so that we might talk about your career? It suddenly occurred to Nora that she had never written before.
As a matter of fact, no one in essence magazine knows her. She became terribly afraid. She eventually met with Salome Bey, conducted the interview and when the article was ready, she sent it to Essence magazine. Three weeks later, a reply came from the editor of essence magazine. Out of fear that the article had been rejected, Nora refused to open the envelope.
Hear what she said: “how could I ever thought that I could compete in a world of professional writers who make their living writing? How stupid of me?” knowing she couldn’t face the rejection letter with all the reasons why her manuscript was rejected, she threw the unopened envelope closet and promptly forgot about it concluding that the whole ordeal was a bad experience.
Five years letter while cleaning out her apartment preparing to move to another state to take a job in sales, Nora came across an unopened envelope to her in her own handwriting, she quickly opened the envelope the envelope and read the editor’s letter in disbelief;
“Dear ms Profit,
Your story on Salome Bey is fantastic. We need some additional quotes. Please add those and return the article immediately. We would like to publish your story in the next issue. Wao!
Nora was shocked. It took her a long time to recover. The fear of rejection had cost her a great deal. She lost a lot of money and having her article appeared in a major magazine. The fear of rejection also cost her years of enjoyable and productive writing.
Though she began a faithful career in writing after the incident, she lost over7 years of productive use of her gifts. Now, this is her summary of the whole experience; “You can’t afford to doubt yourself.
Dear reader, if you don’t believe in what God has deposited in you, no one can believe in you.
As from today, start to have confidence in yourself and your abilities. Stop doubting yourself. Stop allowing fear to take control of you.
It is a new day for you.
Stay confident.
Tunde Afe
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