Success is a result of an active life. One in which you are the driver...

When I came back from traveling I had great intentions on getting work done and accomplishing great things. As usual the thinking about success clashed with the accomplishing success in my life. After a week of being busy I looked back to evaluate the week to see what had been accomplished. I noticed that most of my time was filled with activities that had nothing to do with my goals. 
 
My calendar was a mess of scribbled in schedule breakers. A random phone call or a text slipped in unexpected, or was it two or three,  I got distracted from the task at hand. I found myself gazing at Facebook and becoming generally distracted. 
 
It was time to clean up the mess I was becoming. 
 
It wasn’t that I was bored. I was busy every day all day. But busy doing what? A closer look at the activities of the week revealed I had fallen into the trap of allowing others to fill my calendar. You see when other people are allowed to fill your calendar,  they fill it with what’s important to them. They fill it with their priority not your priority. They made their agenda my agenda. Working from home has its advantages for sure but work from home means “she’s available” to others. 
 
I needed to take control of the situation and fill my calendar with the activities that were important to me. If not, my life would become a passive life. One that others would control. One that drifted with the tide of other’s emergencies. 
 
Success is a result of an active life. One in which you are the driver. You are the controller of what you do each day. Other people have their place but their place is controlled by you. You chose when to spend time with them and for how long. 
 
One thing is certain, mediocrity doesn’t take much effort. It just happens. It was happening to me. It crept up on me like a thief and before I knew it I was drifting quickly toward it. 
 
But I don’t want to live a mediocre life. I know you don’t either. 
 
Success takes planning and effort. Determined to take control again I took Sunday afternoon and prioritized my calendar in such a way that this week I am doing the things that are important to accomplish. The things that are important to me. So far much better. I’m still a little slow with this email but that’s because another force keeps tugging at me called procrastination.  That’s a whole other email….

Bottom line is I’m better than last week and I’ll be even better next week. 
 
Who’s planning your life? Take time to reflect back on your day and your week. What went right and what can you do better? If you strive for mediocrity you’ll arrive at average and ordinary. The world is over run with average and ordinary. If you want more from life it will take effort on your part. Even if you can’t make leaps and bounds in the direction of your goals and dreams you can take a tiny step. If each tiny step is in the right direction, over time you will get there.


Angela Decoteau
Pronounced (Deck-uh-toe)