Measuring Up? Effectiveness Contributes to Contentment

Hey blog family,

Several weeks ago I discussed how to live your best life, and seven components made the list. Effectiveness ranked as one of them, which surprised me at the time.

I expected love and friendship but not efficacy. However, at second glance, achieving goals can bring fulfillment, purpose, and satisfaction contributing to the best life possible. In this way, it makes sense. The more I thought about it, the more sense it made. Who you are stems from not only what you do but the manner in which you attain success. Effectiveness plays a big role in the level of accomplishment.

I literally love efficiency, discipline, and goals (so having effectiveness on the list was a win for me!). I practiced my nighttime bathroom routine to figure out the fastest way to get ready for bed each night. I thrive on challenging my discipline and on following through on my word. A lack of determination in other people confuses me. Overall, I set goals and work toward them seemingly as a function of my genetic makeup. I appreciate efficacy better than most.

So what?

A couple tips to increase your effectiveness and thus your quality of life:

• Try to follow through on your commitments, big and small, as much as possible. All of them. If you tend to forget, download some type of reminder app. Set alerts on your phone. (I swear I’ll probably preach this until I’m dead).
• Write your goals down. You are greater than 40% more likely to achieve a goal if you simply write it down. When the objective is on paper, it holds you accountable in a more tangible way than when the goal exists only in your mind.
• Start small. Success reinforces success. Completion bolsters completion. If you set the initial goal too high, you may fail and discourage yourself from continuing down the path. Set easily attainable goals. If you want to start running, don’t say I’m going to run for 60 minutes a day; instead, plan to jog for five minutes. After you run five minutes for five days a week over two weeks, then you have something to build on.
• Take the time. Putting things off happens to me every week. I vow to put all the dishes in the dishwasher as they become dirty. Yet, slowly but surely, the tableware begins to stack up in the sink, so on my day off, I need to clean the kitchen. If you took the time initially to put something in its place or handle a situation, you wouldn’t have to make a gargantuan effort later on.

So effectiveness really is crucial for living your best life and achieving your goals. Effectiveness isn’t always innate, but it can be practiced.

Go get it. Baby steps.

Peace out, K.