Go Against the Grain Not with the Flow

Have you ever noticed that when you need a certain resource it tends to show up just when you're ready for it? I had noticed Darren Hardy's book, The Compound Effect in The Success Magazine a few times and I thought it may be a good book to add to my success library. I had listened to a podcast discussing The Compound Effect and it really piqued my interest. I knew I needed to order it. Once I received my book and CDs, I started listening to the audio of The Compound Effect immediately and I began listen to it every chance I got. Hardy’s advice and recommendations on climbing the ladder of success was like tree full of fruit is waiting to be picked. I wanted to take one of these juicy ideas and put it into practice. I decided that I would track my time and what I was doing because we all know there are several time wasters in our lives that we can curb to make our time more productive and more efficient. My time wasters are social media and e-mail. Even though these can be productive tools, they can take up a lot of time without you even realizing. I had tracked my time in the past but never so consciously.

The first day I started writing everything down I became very conscious of what I was doing. It was amazing how much more I accomplished. Not that I don't accomplish things on a normal day but with the increased awareness, I began to acknowledge more of my accomplishments And not only did I perform better, but I started noticing how much more time I had to get the things done I wanted to including more time to spend with family and friends and give back to others.

The biggest lesson was on the second day. I had allotted time to go to the gym however, I decided to check just one more e-mail and before I knew it my gym time had elapsed to twenty five minutes instead of the hour. But because I made a commitment that I needed to go to the gym, 25 minutes was better than nothing. I realized I cheated myself out of the time that I put aside for myself. This may have happened to you. You may have thought to yourself “I’ll just do one more thing...it will be quick” only to realize that the one more thing took a lot more time than you realized. Cheating ourselves out of looking after ourselves can be harmful in the long run but with conscious decision-making and following through on our commitments we can achieve so much more.

Many people go through life going with the flow instead against the grain. Going against the grain does not mean encountering resistance. It means doing things differently than everyone else. How many people do you know who use a tracking system in their lives? Ask some people if they have tried it. Try it for yourself for the next 30 days. This exercise can be used in other areas of your life as well such as tracking how often you praise your children, your spending, your food intake, and your activity in relation to exercise. You will quickly see that you may have not been doing as much as you thought you were or perhaps you will notice a lack of harmony in certain areas in your life. When you become more conscious of the decisions that you make, you will notice improvements in the areas that you focus on. If you have felt that you are off track, the slightest adjustments will get you back on the right track.

How many people go with the flow because it's comfortable? No one ever said that being successful would be comfortable but what I do know is that success comes to those who make slight adjustments in their course, persevere, focus on what they truly want, and enjoy the journey.

What slight adjustments have you done in your life? Do you track your progress? Are you consciously making decisions that will help you achieve your goals and desires? Let us know...