Using a Daily To Do List to Achieve Goals

Are you ready to learn how a daily to do list can help you? Have you ever set goals and not achieved them? Most of us have done that. It’s quite common in fact. Every New Year’s Day, most of us have New Years Resolutions, but how many of us actually commit and keep up the resolutions? For example, many people want to exercise more. You may start out with every intention in the world to exercise, but after a few days or weeks, you somehow quit and go right back to your old habits. Why is that?

One of the biggest reasons is a lack of commitment. Without commitment, a goal will gradually shrink in importance, and many people are tempted to quit, especially when obstacles cause setbacks and delays.

However, if you make a serious commitment and then continually remind yourself of it, you’ll be much more likely to persevere and attain your goals.

Creating a daily to do list is a great way to help you commit to and achieve your goals. In order to create your list, take the following steps:

1. First and foremost, you have to make sure that your goals are extremely important to you. This can be tricky because many people fool themselves into believing that they want one thing when they want something completely different. Take some time to think about what you truly want. Don’t allow your goals to be dictated by someone else. In Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, & Les Hewitt’s best selling book, The Power of Focus, they said “Your most important goals must be yours.” Don’t let your friends, relatives, co-workers, boss, etc influence you. For example, many people go into a certain career field because their mother or father wanted them to. Doing this actually sabotages your success. Create your own goals & your own definition of success and don’t worry about what everyone else thinks. Remember to always write your goals down.

Also ask yourself if your goal is worth the effort and sacrifice that will be needed to achieve it. If you can honestly answer yes, you are on the right track.

2. Based on the goals that you’ve set for yourself, write down specifically what you need to do in order to achieve those goals. Never begin your day until you have it written down on paper. The night before, figure out exactly what you’re going to do – this is your daily to do list. Here’s a tip for you – your biggest and most important task should always be done first. In the best selling book, Eat That Frog!, by Brian Tracy, he explains how to overcome procrastination and how to prioritize your daily tasks. Your “frog” is your most important task. He said you should always “eat that frog” first.

By creating a daily to do list the night before, you’ll be ahead of most people. Most people get up, and then decide what they’re going to do that day. In doing that, a lot of time and energy is wasted.

Remember to always make sure every item on your list is complete before you start the next day’s list.