12. PERSONAL LISTS TO MAKE:
a. Daily "To Do's" List
For Achieving Success Of The Gpa Plan
THE #1 LIST OF LISTS
What is your GPA, Goals Per Action?
LIST OF DAILY/WEEKLY ACTION TO DO REVIEW LISTS
Find a spot that fits you between the Minimum and the Maximum (see worksheet,
next page)
The absolute minimum: 3 absolute priorities to do tomorrow (or today).
The absolute Maximum: 3 absolute priorities to do tomorrow (or today),
PLUS:
• Every evening: ask: did I meet
my GPA today (goals per action) Plan today?
(1) Review the day, evaluate personal/professional
performance and GPA
(2) Review/revise calendar for the next 7-10 days, concentrating
on
tomorrow
(3) Review/revise "to do" list for the next 7-10
days, concentrating on
tomorrow
• Calls to make
• People to see
• Research to read, conduct
• Reports/proposals to read/write
• Presentations to give, in writing or orally
• Meetings to attend/conduct, professional/personal
• Books/materials to read, professional/inspirational/self-improvement
• People/wisdom to pray for
• Personal affirmations/validations/goal statements to recite
• The following morning: Review the list for the day
• Every day: morning/afternoon/evening: do the to do's
• Every day: morning/afternoon/evening: Recite personal affirmations/validations/goals
• Summary: Achieve = having faith in your "to do's" + ACTing on them daily as GPA.
Reality checks:
1. Am I allowing anything(TV)/anybody to steal/postpone/sabotage my dreams?
2. Am I asking Nathaniel Brandon's question about your activities: "Am I confident that this is the way I want to invest my time and life?"
3. Am I handling the "Q's" well?: EQ (Emotional Intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ, by Daniel Goleman), which I can control and improve, AQ (Adversity Quotient: Turning Obstacles Into Opportunities, by Paul G. Stoltz), which I can also control and improve, and not consider IQ (intelligence quotient), the latter being the least important one for success of however many "Q's" are out there (see David Perkins, Outsmarting IQ, paraphrasing Sandra Scarr: "opportunity breeds predestination").
5. Handle the "Q's" by (1) adding business knowledge and self understanding through Stoltz's CO2RE and others, (2) by considering weekly the "Ben Franklin 13", and (3) by "staying the course" with Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich's "6 ways to turn desires into gold" (p. 36), by following his "13 action steps to success" by overcoming "the 6 fears" (p. 222), & by avoiding the "31 major reasons or causes of failure" (pp. 120-126)?
Gpa Plan Worksheet
For Daily "To Do" List For Achieving Success
THE #1 LIST OF LISTS WORKSHEET
THE ABSOLUTE MINIMUM: 3 absolute MUST priorities to do tomorrow
What? Why? By When?
1.
2.
3.
The absolute Maximum: 3 absolute priorities to do tomorrow (or today),
above, PLUS:
Every evening: ask: did I meet my GPA today (goals per action)
Plan today for life balance?
(1) Review the day, evaluate personal/professional performance
and GPA
(2) Review/revise calendar for the next 7-10 days, concentrating
on tomorrow
(3) Review/revise "to do" list for the next 7-10 days,
concentrating on tomorrow
Put specifics in your day
Tomorrow's date: Adapt form to your planner/calendar.
Research to
Appointments Calls to make People to see read, conduct
Presentations to give,
Reports/proposals to read/write in writing or orally
Meetings to attend/conduct, Books/materials to read
professional/personal for professional development
People/wisdom to pray for:
professional/inspirational/
Books/materials to read, self-improvement:
Follow-up:
•The following morning: Review the list for the day
• Every day: morning/afternoon/evening: review your progress with your to do's.
•Every day: morning/afternoon/evening: Recite appropriate "self talk" (next section) to reaffirm goals, focus steps for overcoming adversity, staying optimistic (adversity's enemy), being a climber on the ascent.
• Summary: Achieve = having faith in your "to do's" + ACTing on them daily as GPA.
b. LIST FOR SELF TALK, in two columns (taken from Brian Nystrom's
upcoming book, Ordinary People, Extraordinary Marriages), putting any
negative situation or comments in column one, and then applying "Self
Talk" (which includes prayer: "God Talk") to fill
in column two to counter the negative of column one.
Column One: Column Two
[distorted/negative/irrational] [balance/truth]
• Ask for help to imprint the truth, right column, in your
mind
• Practice reviewing and telling yourself the truth (right
column) several times a day
• When distorted/negative/irrational thoughts occur, immediately
dispute this with the truth from the right column [Doing Self-Talk
with God Talk: Prayer]
c. LIST from Martin E.P. Seligman, LEARNED OPTIMISM: How
to Change Your Mind and Your Life. Do your (1) ABC's & your
(2) ABCDE's (another form of self-talk). Keep a daily record of
each, reviewing to see how well you are doing and to take steps to do
even better. As you develop your sense of optimism, conquering the
sense of helplessness, success happens.
Adversity: What happened: (example: he/she
yelled)
Belief: What it means: he/she hates me... thinks
I'm bad
Consequences: Feel sad; feel unworthy; feel it’s
my fault
Disputation: SELF-TALK: Yelling does not = hate;
he/she does it to others; I may have contributed & if so, I can quit
contributing (choice); He/she may be having a bad day; I know that is
not me.
Energization: Feel bad about it, but I can go
on and not feel bad; Express your emotion that it makes you feel sad;
Forgive the yelling; promise each other you won't
do what helped lead to the yelling/name calling
d. LIST from Paul G. Stoltz, ADVERSITY QUOTIENT: Turning
Obstacles into Opportunities. Techniques for avoiding "catastrophizing"
(the debilitating "wild fire" of the mind which spreads action
paralysis. Interrupt the destructive catastrophizing with distracters
and reframers (p. 191), in order to leave feeling helpless to being optimistic
and empowered. As you develop your sense of optimism, conquering
the sense of helplessness, success happens.
Distracters:
Slam your palm on a hard surface, shout "Stop!"
Focus intently on an unrelated object.
Place a rubber band on your wrist and snap out of it!
Distract yourself with an unrelated activity.
Alter your state with exercise.
Reframers:
Refocus on your purpose. "Why am I doing this?"
Get small (put the adversity in perspective).
Help someone else.
e. LIST, from Peter Berger (See his Pyramids of Sacrifice:
Political Ethics and Social Change, pp. 137-189: characteristics
for living in the greater world, related to living life in terms of others
in terms of public/private/ institutional/ organizational policy, using
a "calculus of meaning" and "calculus of pain," to
develop lists of what you say YES to in terms of fostering meaning, and
NO to in terms of minimizing pain for and in relating to others
f. LIST of 17 strategies for controlling anger [for
developing, in Edwin Friedman's term, a "non-anxious presence",
Edwin Friedman's term] from ANGER KILLS: Seventeen Strategies for Controlling
the Hostility That Can Harm Your Health, by Redford Williams, M.D. and
Virginia Williams, Ph.D. The strategies are for communicating lovingly,
rather than with anger and hostility (note how many are but another form
of self-talk):
(1) reason with yourself [self talk]
(2) stop hostile thoughts/feelings/urges
(3) distract yourself
(4) meditate
(5) avoid over stimulation
(6) assert yourself
(7) care for a pet
(8) listen!
(9) practice trusting others
(10) take on community service
(11) increase your empathy
(12) be tolerant
(13) forgive
(14) have a confidant
(15) laugh at yourself
(16) become more religious
(17) pretend today is your last [and behave accordingly]