I continue to use this template to stay on track professionally and personally, and to course correct if I think I am not going to reach some of my targets. This is one way I leverage what I teach in Twenty First Century Leadership.

Below are the ideas I focused on in my workshop:

Using a pen and paper I…

• Design a plan and work the plan.
• Build some “distraction time” into my plan.
• Stay current with where I am and where I am headed.
• Keep an eye on my time-line and adjust my action steps in order to accomplish my tasks by the date(s) I chose as my deadline.
• Finish what I started while making my transition into my next phase, checking items off my action steps list as I proceed.

I motivate myself through…

• Beginning with the end in mind.
• Being proactive.
• Being courageous and rewarding myself for what I accomplish.
• Keeping a journal.
• Asking, when I experience temptation, “Is this going to help me get where I want to be – to further my purpose?”
• Setting up and using a buddy system or team system.
• Being as organized as I know how to be and prioritizing.
• Bringing enthusiasm to every task at hand.

In short, I believe that people who are “on their game” exercise self-discipline when thinking on paper, relentlessly finding ways to overcome what they believe are their limits, knowing when to say, “Yes,” and when to say, “No,” and keeping up with their industry. People in the process of winning remain aware of the value they are creating practicing this kind of self-discipline instead of viewing this process as a burden or sacrifice.

If I “fall off of my game”, become less self-disciplined or experience irritability, I view this as an indicator rather than a condition. I remind myself of the ideas expressed in this article. Similarly, if I allow my enthusiasm to wane, I course correct by paying more attention to constructively creating the experiences that contribute to my feeling of success/fulfillment.

“Talent without discipline is like an octopus on roller skates. There’s plenty of movement, but you never know if it’s going to be forward, backwards, or sideways.” Life’s Little Instruction Book – H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Maybe you were unclear about what you wanted to say, probably you were in resistance and certainly you made other and probably less valuable things more important. And then, in the 11th hour, you marshaled your resources, got sufficiently clear about what you wanted to say and did the work. Time was up – do or die.

Another way of thinking about this is that the closer you got to the deadline the more important the paper became to you and the stronger you fixed your intention to write it. What seemed necessary in the moment supported you becoming intentional enough to do it.

If you are like most people, you continue to repeat this pattern today. It is more common than not for people to put the tasks, communications and actions that they resist, or about which they feel particularly challenged, on the back burner (these are, incidentally, often the ones with the highest payoffs). Then, as an established deadline approaches, or people reach their emotional limits of incompletion, fear and uncertainty, they fix their intention (make it important enough) to get it handled and “just do it”.

I often hear people justify this approach. They say they work better under pressure or are more creative in the face of a deadline. Perhaps this is true, but probably not. I think they just experience relief that they got it done and confuse relief with excellence.

I believe that when I fix my intention to handle what is most important first – to spend my time to my highest and best use – I work just as well as when I am under pressure and I am equally creative. And, the benefits are immense. To name a few, I lead rather than react, I spend more time on what matters most (I further my purpose), I have more time to check and adjust my initial results so I ensure excellence, and I avoid excessive stress.

When necessity is the mother of my intention, it is because I allow it. Rather than waiting until I think, “I have to do it now or else…”, I believe I am much more effective when I fix my intention early (make a conscious intellectual and emotional choice to do it now) and handle first things first.