With the curiosity of a pioneer
Prepare yourself. Otherwise, there is no use in having good goals, excellent planning and plenty of talents.
If you want results, track your progress. If you fail to do that, they will not materialise.
Monitoring is also a way of motivating yourself.
How can you be happy, victorious or meaningful if you do not focus on what you have “done” and what you “feel”, and live that feeling?
To do this with the curiosity of someone who is unravelling a mystery leads to a state of consciousness known as “transcendence”.
Have you ever tried it? I can assure you it is worth it.
The military call it After Action Review.
Take a few moments every day to reflect on this:
- What happened?
- What did I do?
- What should I have done?
- What could I have done?
Now, reflect on these questions again, replacing the verb “to do” with the verb “to feel”.
Carefully write down your conclusions and compare them with the standards set earlier.
It is good to work hard, but what truly matters is to work smart.
What should you keep track of?
Firstly, keep track of all the actions that are interesting to those you wish to charm and those that are interesting to you. Standards must be set according to what others value most, as well as their interests. The same applies to your own mind.
Then, keep track of what you need in order to achieve your goals. Finally, keep track of what is meaningful to your life.
These Standards should constitute a part of the planning and they should be written in an appendix.
Ask the right questions
In countries like ours, it is not uncommon to own a house with a yard, swimming pool, lawn, etc. We usually hire freelance gardeners to do the maintenance. Our new gardener was just finishing his work when I arrived home.
He greeted me, very politely and in a cheerful voice, and asked me to excuse him because he had to answer a phone call. He wanted to speak to another customer. I was not far from the phone, so I could overhear his conversation.
“A friend of mine said that you were in need of a gardener (…)
I clean the pool, mow the lawn, take out the rubbish and run errands. I also lubricate the machines (…)
That is sad! You already have a gardener? (…) But I charge cheap rates. (…) Does he charge cheap rates, too? And is he very good?
Thank you very much. And if you ever need me, I’ll be available.”
After hanging up the phone, I asked him if his approach could perhaps be out of order. He explained it to me. “No, sir. I’m his gardener. I was just checking to make sure that I’m doing the job right.”
If you want to know how people rate you, be creative. Ask the right questions to get reliable indicators.
A genius is someone who sees the obvious.
The best geniuses are those who can teach you how to do it.