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Business, Chris Widener, SUCCESS Experts - Written by Chris Widener on Friday, March 12, 2010 17:45 - 20 Comments
How to Guarantee a GREAT Day, Every Day
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This week, he asked me: How can a person guarantee that they will have a great day, every day? Some may find that hard to answer, but for me it was easy. You see, I believe we can control our destinies and create for ourselves the kind of lives we desire. People who live based on these principles achieve what they desire, while people who live reacting to circumstances do not.
Here are the principles for having a GREAT day every day:
Focus on today only.
Yes, long-range goals are important. But our focus must be on today. My equation is that your short-term tasks, multiplied by time, equal your long-term accomplishments. With that in mind, it’s imperative that we focus on short-term because, when multiplied by time, it will eventually equal our long-term goals. Don’t worry about tomorrow. Make today the best day you have ever had. Realize that when you lay down to sleep tonight you will have just given up the only shot you will ever have at today. You only get one shot at your today, so focus intently on making it all that it possibly can be. Focus, focus, focus! When you focus on making today great, you are helping guarantee that you will make your day GREAT, every day!
Embrace your power to choose.
Dwight D. Eisenhower said, “The history of free men is never written by chance but by choice—their choice.” When your today becomes your yesterday, you will look back and realize that day was a result of your choices. “But wait Chris, what if my boss controlled my day? That isn’t my choice!” you might say. But it is your choice to work for someone else. You chose to let someone else tell you what to do. But you can control your own destiny. The moment we realize that we can exercise a powerful gift from God, namely the gift of free will and choice, is when we begin to create for ourselves a GREAT day each and every day! Take ownership of the direction of your life. Make your choices and carry them out!
Your attitude is up to you.
Yes, bad things may happen in your day. The pitcher for “Team Circumstances” may have a tremendous curveball waiting for you, and you cannot control that. You cannot control what others may do or say. But you can control your attitude. Your attitude about whatever happens to you is up to you.
When something happens to you, you have the choice: Will you let it get you down and depressed, keeping you from forging ahead and making the day the best one ever? Or will you say to yourself that, no matter what happens, you are on the path to success and no obstacle will keep you from it? Will you say, “Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose—I guess this time I lost”? Will you say, “Sometimes you win and sometimes you learn—I can really learn something from this!”?
It is all in what attitude you choose. Your attitude is up to you, and when you choose to have a great attitude, you are choosing to guarantee to have a GREAT day, every day!
Live out and act on your priorities.
So far, we have dealt with internal perspectives, and that is indeed the place to start. But the practical place is in our priorities. If we want to make our days great, then we have to live out those things that will by definition make our days great. And those things are what are important to us. They are our priorities.
So each morning, start out by asking, “What things are important to me today? What are the things I need to accomplish in order for me to lay down tonight and know that I lived a GREAT day?” Then put those in order of most important to least important.
Don’t do what is fun. Don’t do what is easy. Do what is IMPORTANT! Live out your priorities. When you do, you will guarantee that you will make your day GREAT, every day!
Tomorrow, when you wake up, go through the four following points and see if you don’t make tomorrow a GREAT day:
- Focus on today only.
- Understand that I get to choose how today will go.
- Remain in a positive attitude no matter what happens.
- Live out and act on my priorities.
Do this, and you will guarantee a GREAT day, every day.
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20 Responses to “How to Guarantee a GREAT Day, Every Day”
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I will add this: for your every day, make a PLAN!
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I think the main lesson here is prioritize what is necessary in life and enjoy doing that activity. Sometimes we try to do everything at once that we end up doing nothing at all.
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Chris, thank you for the guidance. I have tried these steps and they are helping me to have a much better week. Thanks again.
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This has actually helped me to have a better day for the past 2 days! The hard one is having a good day no matter what happens!
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When you are motivated for the day ahead it shows in the work you do, so does attitude. I can not think of how many people I have worked with in the past that just came in day after day with a nasty attitude and it showed in their work and how they did (sales wise).
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I was not so keen today. I remembered this, chose how my day would go, and focused on my priority. I did it! This will be my daily habit now.
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It seems that things have been getting me down lately. Every turn I make, I run into a wall. I am going to start having this attitude so that everyday is a great day.
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Concentrate on today to make it a great day! I love this thought and I’m going to change my attitude and try to make every day a great day! Thanks for the positive article Chris!
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I really enjoyed this article and I’m going to share it with my daughter. She has been kind of moody lately and I want to show her that SHE can control her own day and her attitude and make each day a good day! Thanks Chris!
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Concentrate on today and make it a happy good day! That is what I took from this article and I loved it! Thanks for being so positive Chris! I look forward to more of your articles!
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I loved this article. I am going to follow these steps each and every day! I want to be happy! I am always thinking about what lies ahead! Now I’ll focus on today and only today and be happy!
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Great article, Chris! One thing though. Rather than thinking “Sometimes you win and sometimes you learn…” I would suggest “Sometimes you win, but you can always learn - so what can I learn from this (win or not)?” It’s important to learn from our mistakes, but it’s equally as important to learn from our successes so we can duplicate them!
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Truly great advise!
It resonated with me the most.
I was in a fix and it re-inforced my thoughts again.
Thank you Chris. God Bless You!
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All I can say is WOW! Absolutely fabulous article and absolutely true. If more people would live like this particularly in regards to attitude the world would be a happier place!
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I believe in what you are saying. Taking each day at a time is like taking a small step forward. Each step brings us nearer to our goals.
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Great ideas! We do have the ability to control our destinies. We can choose to let life control us or for us to control life. If we just let everything that happens to us get us down and we don’t get back up, we will NOT succeed. You have to control your reaction to what happens in your life or you will never be a success.
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You are absolutely right Chris. We should learn to live our lives one day at a time. We must focus all our energy for one day only and let the future take care of itself.
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I remember a saying that goes like this: “Dream like you are going to live forever but live like you are going to die tomorrow.”
I think this is basically what Chris is telling us. We should concentrate on what we are doing today to achieve the dreams that we have.
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matthew Reply:
March 23rd, 2010 at 1:17 pm
Wow! That is a really awesome way of looking at life. I may post that above my desk as a reminder!Great article Chris and a good reminder to live today!
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When I read Chris’s comments on attitudes I remembered a booklet that a friend had given me once when I was having trouble getting along with a co-worker. It was entitled, “Your Reactions Are Showing.” I still have the booklet to this day. Thank you for your insight, Chris.
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