SMALL THINGS THAT MAKE A GREAT DAY

Sometimes the difference between your best day and a mediocre day lies in the small things you can do to boost your performance.

In sport, we call it the one-percenters - these tiny things represent a huge gain that can separate a good performance from a great performance. In your day, there are ton of these things and maybe you don’t even realise what they are yet. That’s good news! It means that once you uncover these small things they can help you to live your optimal day.

In the Focus Planner, we have a specific section for you to identify those small things that will make a great day.

Preparing for Failure

One of the most interesting things about executing on successful behaviours is this: If we identify what we need to do, and when we might get side-tracked, or discouraged, or tempted to do the easier thing rather than the hard thing, then we are far more likely to stay on track. Writing these things down at the start of the allows us to be mindful of staying on track, and helps us hold ourselves accountable.

What ARE those small things? They’ll be different for everybody. Mostly, they’ll be different day to day. Below we’ve put together a list of the typical things that people write in this section of the Focus Planner. We hope that they’ll give you some inspiration to identify some small things of your own.

We’ve divided them into three categories or Physical, Mental and Emotional. We’d love to hear yours as well!

Physical:

• Stay hydrated
• Nail your workout - don’t get distracted
• No coffee after 12pm
• Stand every hour
• Stretch
• Eat healthy ALL day
• Healthy snacks ONLY
• Gym after work - no excuses

Mental:

• Stay focused
• Finish your task list (even those last two things….)
• Reach Inbox Zero
• Take 3 breaks during the day to disconnect
• Make time to read/personal development
• No procrastinating!
• Get started on that project you’ve been putting off.... anything small to move it forward

Emotional:

• Have that conversation
• Listen!
• Pay something forward
• Leave at 5pm! (Or other reasonable time)
• Meditate for 10min (use the Headspace app?)
• Be present

Implement just a few of these things and you’ll realise that they make a massive difference to how much you get done, how engaged you are at work and at home, and how you contribute to your relationships. In short, they help you get that little extra out of every day.