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Think and Grow Rich author Napoleon Hill said, “Your every success or failure is determined by your lifestyle and established habits.” It turns out that just 18 minutes a day is enough to radically change the course of life!
Walk at least 10 steps daily and do exercises. Learn words in a new language – little by little, but every day. Spend at least half an hour a day doing what you love. All these are habits that help us move in the direction we have chosen.
However, it is important not only to take concrete actions leading to success, but also to reflect, reflect on your goals, evaluate your progress. In the book “18 minutes. How to increase concentration, stop distractions and do what really matters” Peter Bregman talks about an 18-minute daily practice that will help you clearly understand where we are going and stay on track throughout the day.
“Recognition is not for excellence, but for productivity,” he writes. – Be a normal parent. Normal employee. Normal writer. This will allow you to move on. Because in the end, the key to excellence is not doing it right, but doing it often. Then in the end you will achieve the desired result.
PRACTICE
Morning – 5 minutes
It is extremely important to spend five minutes each morning planning the day ahead. Bregman recommends making a to-do list and thinking about what you can do today to get closer to success. How can you take a step towards the goal? What should be included in the to-do list for the day?
“Going through the day maneuvering efficiently is like riding a steep rocky slope on a mountain bike. We must look ahead. Plan a path. And rush.”
You can do it a little differently: visualize the day ahead, imagine the challenges that you may face, and think about how exactly you will cope with them. You can also write down in your diary how you would like to live this day, and mark one thing that you absolutely need to do today so that the day can be considered successful.
Every hour – 1 minute (total 8 per working day)
Set an alarm every hour and when the alarm rings, spend one minute on yourself:
- Take a deep breath and exhale.
- Reflect on whether the past hour was productive. Were you able to do what you set out to do? Did you manage to focus? How are you feeling?
- Tune in for the next hour, imagine the result you want to achieve.
Evening – 5 minutes
At the end of your work day, take five minutes to reflect on how it went. Bregman advises asking yourself the following questions:
- How was the day? What have I been successful in? What has been overcome?
- What did I learn today – about myself, about others? What do I plan to do tomorrow – the same or a little different?
- Who did I talk to today? Do I need to break the news to someone? Give thanks? Learn about something? Share feedback?
Depending on what you do and how your working day goes, you can modify the evening practice at your discretion – for example, write down three victories that happened in a day, note what you are grateful for and what you expect from tomorrow.
- What did I do well?
- What went wrong with me?
- What tasks are left for tomorrow and what can I do better?
The goal is to evaluate what has been done, make sure you are on the right track, and set yourself up for a productive tomorrow. By making this simple and not too time-consuming practice a habit, you can be sure that you are really moving in the direction you need every day.
“Seconds turn into days, days into years, and years into lives. If your days and seconds are determined by what you want to achieve in years, then every moment reflects your choice. So you will understand that you are doing the main thing, ”recalls Peter Bregman.