This year is a starting for me to learn to be consistent. As you know, 4 months has passed for this year. Have you reach some or make progress towards it? Are you stuck and not seems able to move forward like what you have thought you would be? Don’t beat yourself, according to a research done by StatisticBrain, only 8% successfully achieve their goal.

Unfortunately, I can’t say that I’m one of the 8%, but I want to be one. I have some problem with the motivation. It’s not really a problem, it’s just that I lost the initial motivation to move forward. The hectic of life, the pressure from work, or the lack of it sometimes, have made me to do something else. Something that is more fun to do. Have you experienced that kind of thing? Seems that life pressure you to do all they want, instead of you doing what you want.

I learned this from David Allen in his book “Getting Things done” (GTD) about processing. I believe that the saying “out of sight, out of mind” is true in my life. Since i only put it in my notes somewhere, I lose focus and I forget about it. I need to set regular review of my goals if I want to move forward and I hope you want it to. What I get from this is more about re-processing. There are 3 steps to re-process your life
1. Set a schedule to review your tasks and goals
Most of people out there has talked about keeping your goal close and review it regularly. The best or recommended duration is once a week. The question is, have you done it? I’m still struggling in this. There are some weeks that slipped by without me reviewing what I need or want to do. And when you realize that it’s only been 17 weeks passed this year, a few weeks worth of slipped schedule is a lot

I need to do this more intentionally if I want to do this. Now I’m a believer of what you schedule gets done. If you haven’t put it in your calendar, do it now. Decide a day when you would like to do this and schedule it. Everyone will have different schedule. choose a day and time that works for you. If it’s better for you to do it in the morning, do it. If you have tried it a few times and it still doesn’t work, schedule it in different time. The idea is to stick to your schedule first and rearrange your schedule.

2. Respect your calendar
Scheduling is one thing, doing it is another thing. Respect your calendar by doing your review at your appointed time. I’m sure if you have a date with someone that you like or you have appointment with your boss, you’ll make sure that you’ll be able to do it. In the same way, do it for your personal time. This is the best investment that you can do in your life. By doing this, you’re setting a habit that makes you better for the future.

What if you keep procrastinating what you have to do? in this case, your brain will not trust your calendar and believe me, your brain is the most sophisticated system that you have, but it doesn’t have sense of time. Your brain will keep reminding you of the things that you need to remember almost all the time. You might think that it’s okay to reschedule your weekly review, but at the end, your brain will remind you about this all the time. Well, maybe not that extreme, but your mind will remind you at the time that you really don’t want to do it. Have you ever wondered why it is hard to have a good night sleep sometimes? This is one of the reason and it’s because of this kind of open loop stuff that keeps nagging your mind. Respect your calendar by doing what you have schedule. What if there’s an emergency? Then do that (emergency) first. One lesson that I learn is that, if you want to make it happen, you need to schedule time out of your convenience. If you can do in your convenience, that’s good, but for those who have family, or who have unpredictable work schedule, you might want to do it earlier before you do your activities or after you’ve done. My take, earlier is better, because your mind is still fresh and you’d be able to schedule your tasks better.

3. Learn to say ‘no’
It’s not really about sticking to your calendar. It’s about prioritizing your life. Like i said earlier, there will be times that is really an emergency, such as a burglar coming into your house (maybe that is too hypothetical), earthquake, there’s fire in the house, your kid fell off and broke his hand, Or your wife is expecting and it is really the time for delivery, etc. That’s what I can think of and it might not relevant for you. but how many times this kind of emergency happen to you? how many times this emergency happens at the exact time you need to do your review? if it is more than often, you might want to schedule it earlier.

You can gauge yourself about which one is really an emergency. I know that in this era, there are many things that we can handle. Remember that we have limited time. If you know that you need to book a restaurant for your romantic dinner with your spouse, you will find time to do it, right? likewise, by putting it in your schedule, you can put those things on another time. I’m sure when people approach you for your help, and you said that you can do it on that particular time, most of the time they will schedule it in another time. Keep this in mind, I hope what I learned will help you: you can learn to say ‘no’ by saying ‘yes’ to another thing. It’s not that their request is so unimportant, but because you have something more important to do.

Those are the steps that I learn to re-process your life. Remember, it’s not about finding excuses to push other people away just because you feel lazy, but it’s about prioritizing your life and be more responsible with your life. I’m sure that you have and will have a lot more things that you want to do but we have the same amount of time in a day. Do the important things first, regularly, then we can be sure that we achieve what we want to be. Beside, you are unique and was made for great purpose. Don’t let other people define or tell you what to do but let yourself define you.

Question: how do you make time to review your life? How important is it to review your life?

Proverbs 3: 6 In everything you do, put God first, and he will direct you and crown your efforts with success.