“I like things to have rules, I like
order and I like schedules.” Mark Consuelos
Without
exception, the people we most admire have all learned to do things differently
from everyone else. I mean those ‘geniuses’ who seem to always do well at the
office, maintain healthy relationships with colleagues, relatives and friends,
and still manage to remain physically and emotionally sound themselves; the
lucky few who find life relatively easier in terms of the calm and composure
with which they function at a very high level of productivity.
One of such
persons is John Wooden, the legendary basketball coach who won the unparalleled
10 national championships in America during his term as the head coach at UCLA.
In his book, ‘A Game Plan for Life,’ Wooden counsels us on how to be a winner
not only in sports, but also in business and life.
He writes: “Be quick but never hurry.” This
powerful advice of only five words is the basis of today’s message.
Though at
first, I view the sentence as a mere clever play with words. I assume that
‘quick’ is simply synonymous with ‘hurry’. I ask myself, ‘how can I be quick
and never hurry?’
However, it
turns out that not only is it a practical instruction, but also a very powerful
one as well. Indeed it is the secret of many higher performers on the global
stage of life, including the late coach himself.
Having
reflected much about the expression, I have interpreted it for myself as: get
serious, schedule, and then do.
Read on to
understand what I mean.
1} Get Serious
By this, I
mean you should decide to live your life at the highest possible level. You
must choose to become the kind of person who can follow simple instructions.
You need to be willing to do what the majority of people are unwilling to do.
You need to know that successful living has its basic qualities and deciding to
imbibe those qualities is one of the first things that must be understood and
mastered.
This step is
important because merely having a schedule doesn’t magically make things
happen. You need to work your schedule for it to work in your life. You need to
become the kind of person who can act according to a purpose-driven,
high-performance plan.
2} Schedule Your
Priorities
In our everyday lives, we are reminded
of the importance of orderly timekeeping most of the time, yet majority of us
choose negligence over vigilance nonetheless. We see clocks. We have days. We
know what month we are in, and of course, we know which year it is, this very
year.
The significance of scheduling is also
demonstrated constantly by nature; Sun never shines at night, and the Moon, the
only natural satellite of the Earth also works relentlessly according to a
predefined schedule by our Creator.
In the same vein, to perform at our
highest level, we need to work according to a purpose-driven timetable. And
this is exactly what John Wooden meant when he urged us to ‘be quick but never
hurry.’ In this way, we can be getting the right things done, while doing so in
a steady pace with apparent ease.
The author of ‘7 Habits of Highly
Effective People,’ Stephen Covey explains the concept further with the
following, valuable insight. He says: “The key is not to prioritize what's on
your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.”Therefore, anyone who wants to be highly productive in
life must learn how to schedule properly.
In
explanation, we must define and prioritize tasks according to their
consequences in our lives. We must proactively prevent things of high
significance to being at the mercy of things with little or no consequences. With
this in mind, we can easily guard against unnecessary daily distractions and make
the most of our limited resources.
3} Work Your Schedule
This is where
the rubber meets the road. It is here we must act according to our schedule,
because nothing will work unless we do the work. Nothing will work unless we firmly
say no to interruptions.
Nothing will
work unless we do what is important first. Nothing will work without sincerity
of purpose. And that’s why we need to begin the journey with a decision to get
serious about where we really want to end up.
High
performers at all levels make the time to do the right things. In contrast, low
performers make the time to do the easy things. High performers stick to a
schedule while low performers allow distractions to get in the way of their
progress.
More explicitly,
the most successful athletes are in the training floor at about the same time,
every day. The best programmers are facing the computer about the same time,
every day. All highly productive people are incredibly committed to their
schedule; they live by it, day in, day out. And so must we, if we want to
maximize our potentials.
For any of
my readers who may find this too uncomfortable now, just start small and as you
gain confidence you can go a little higher. For instance, set a schedule for
one easy thing you are sure you can do, everyday, for a week, and then keep it.
Yes, you should do your best not to miss a day for seven straight days. After
that one success, you should work your way up from there.
In a
nutshell, to become a high-performer without feeling rushed, get serious, set a
schedule, and then do.
