Dream big
We are going to create a checklist based on our three main goals. We already have a healthy goal. We will create a wealthy goal, and a wise goal, as well.
Our goals are based on Benjamin Franklin’s quote.
Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.
I am glad Mr. Franklin wrote his sentence this way.
He started with health. That is a good place to start.
Health is foundational. What good is wealth, for example, if you do not have the health to enjoy it?
I recommend you create your own healthy goal.
Get out a piece of paper and come up with a bunch of ideas.
- What do you want in life?
- What do you want to do?
- Where do you want to go?
Go crazy. Write big ideas. Write little ideas. Write anything you like. This is called brainstorming. You are simply coming up with ideas. You do not need to commit to any of the ideas.
Yet.
Pick one thing
Once you have your dream list, chose one thing on your list.
This is the one thing you are going to focus on. Do not throw away the rest of the list.
As you hit goals, you will want to choose other goals from the list.
But, for now, pick one thing.
Here, again, is our example healthy goal.
By December 31st of this year, I will lose 15 pounds. I will lose 15 pounds so that I can actually run around in the backyard playing tag with my kids/grandkids.
What do we need to do to hit this goal?
We need to do nothing spectacular, really.
In fact, nothing in this book is mind-blowing. We hit our goals when we are willing to do boring work day after day. This boring work we will call habits. We are going to create a checklist around our daily habits.
Setting Goals will get us started. Daily Checklists will keep us on track.
Checklists narrow our goals into small steps. The little, daily steps on our checklists are the small steps that will carry us to our dreams.
Give yourself about a month to build a habit. Each day, tick off the box when you complete a task. Try to build a chain of unbroken check marks.
