How to Take Inventory of What Matters

I’m going to kick this off with a bit of a self-assessment that I underwent in the past week or so. I strive to post every Tuesday and Thursday and have done a very good job of that so far in 2020, I’ve only missed maybe 1 or 2 weeks. And that’s while working 40+ hours a week, taking 3 MBA courses, and pursuing other business ventures also.

I wanted to post this past Tuesday like I normally do, like I almost always do.

But I didn’t. I didn’t have anything written and I didn’t end up posting anything.

I was disappointed in myself.

Commitment and follow through are incredibly important to me.

At the same time, I wasn’t about to post something that was not of high quality. So I was conflicted. I wasn’t sure what to do.

I had just moved this past weekend to Boca Raton from West Palm Beach. Normally, I like to move quickly and efficiently — I did so again. My prior roommates were kind enough to assist me throughout the move and we finished moving everything on Sunday.

By Tuesday morning, all boxes were emptied and all that was remaining was my wall art.

Then came Thursday and I was working on this piece yet again, I had almost a page of writing but that wasn’t much. I was exhausted. Thursday was a long day at the office and by the time I got home I was doing a few other things before I even opened my computer.

I was wiped.

Started writing a little more but not too much and then ended up getting too tired to actually finish writing what I started. So I had to push it back again.

That happens sometimes and I knew that if I wanted to be successful and effective at the office the next day I better not push it and should just call it a night — so I did.

Now here we are picking this piece up again on Saturday the 9th. That happens.

It’s the key to writing though, everyone that I most respect in the writing world is adamant that we must write daily.

Momentum

We need momentum — that’s human. It’s far too easy to say that we will write the next day or the next or the next but if we start writing and never stop, that puts us in a great position.

“If you find yourself asking yourself (and your friends), ‘Am I really a writer? Am I really an artist?’ chances are you are. The counterfeit innovator is wildly self-confident. The real one is scared to death.” — Steven Pressfield

You must write and write and write again.

What’s important to you though?

It’s the same with anything — you have to do whatever it is that matters most if you aspire to becoming proficient at anything. The key is compounding. Practice compounds on top of practice that compounds on top of practice.

Studies show that passions come AFTER proficiencies.

What are passions? What are proficiencies? What are purposes?

“To me, passion never fits in a box. To me, passion is also never comparable.” — Harrison Wendland

Here’s one explanation from Vogel Bros. (linked here).

So what’s important to you?

I assure you that if you write down the 20 most important things that you do in a week, there are a few things that jump out.

So now, I challenge you to do that. Make a list of 20 things that you have done (or wanted to realistically do) in the past week that were the most important to you.

Then, cross out 15.

If you could ONLY do 5 things in the past week, what would they be?

(It’s not important to rank these 5, just list them)

Maybe your 5 looks something like this:

1. Family dinner

2. Office work

3. Daily bike ride

4. Lunch date picnic with your spouse

5. Movie night with the kids