Corey Stokes

Lately, I’ve been a bit preoccupied with ensuring all of my daily goals are met. Each morning I get up, I write down what it is that I want to get accomplished for the day. Then I set out to do just that. As you may have guessed, during the day,  things do pop up that have greater priority than tasks that I have scheduled. Therefore, I am constantly reorganizing my schedule. I once heard someone call days like this their “Fire Fighter” days. But regardless of what fires I put out. In order for my day to feel like I have accomplished something. My list of priorities needed to be met.

Last night was such a night. With all other priorities completed the only thing left for me to do was exercise. My run for the day was a 5-mile run (2 warm up, 2 fast pace, and 1 cool down). But, when I got home from a long day of work, My children requested a full evening of my attention, the weather seemed to have taken a turn for the worst, and my energy level was rapidly depleting.

After I got my children ready for bed I took a look outside. The roads were pitch black and the rain was coming down harder. I was just about to turn in for the night when I heard a little voice in my head saying “You have failed.”  With that, I put on my running shoes and a raincoat, and I hit the streets.

1 hour 1 minutes and a few seconds later, although everything in me said go home and go to bed,  my run was complete. And everything I had set out to do for the day was done.  I was not a failure! I didn’t mind that the time was four minutes to midnight when I returned home.  Nor did it matter that all everyone, I came in contact with during the run was looking at me like I was crazy,  I had succeeded in accomplishing all my goals.

Here is my point. Many people go through their day without an idea of what they want to accomplish. They usually end their days feeling like they have not done anything worth their time. They usually ignore or silence that little voice in their head with various forms of distractions, and wake up the next morning still not wanting to face another day with nothing to show for it.  I often hear Dan Miller (48 Days to the work you love) say “we all have the same 24 hours in a day”, If we don’t fill that time with tasks that make us productive then someone else will fill it for us.  Don’t spend your day making someone else’s dream come true.  Set daily goals for yourself. And no matter how long it takes, complete those goals before the end of the day.  How you use your 24 hours, will determine how accomplished you feel at the end of the day.