Creating Your Future

Imagine waking up every day at 5:59 a.m. to Sonny & Cher belting out “I Got You Babe” on your clock radio. Now imagine that every morning is February 2nd! That was Bill Murray’s fate in the 1993 comedy hit, Groundhog Day.

On location in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, the cynical TV weatherman played by Murray seems doomed to spend eternity living the same day over and over.

Make Each Day Different

The movie was a fantasy. Or was it? If we’re not intentional with our time and habits, it can feel like we’re also trapped in an endless loop of activity. Maybe you’ve heard people complain about their life as “same stuff, different day.”

Not me. Every morning when I wake up, I exercise the gift of creating my future — designing how I will live today. That creation begins with my thoughts and beliefs, and then is acted on by performing my daily habits.

My routine is simple. Unfortunately, it’s easily derailed. Even the smallest momentary distraction can make me lose focus and react to external stimuli.

The Irony of Excuses

I’m not alone in that. We all get distracted. In my coaching practice, clients give me lots of reasons for skipping beneficial habits. Many say, “I don’t have time.” Others assert, “I have to be responsive to customers.” That sounds legitimate — I mean, who can argue with being responsive to customers?

Here’s the irony: I’ve found that those who claim to be most attentive to customers are least attentive to their own good habits! They’re more likely to neglect things like exercising regularly, nurturing relationships, and developing new skills. Dr. Stephen Covey described these kinds of activities as Quadrant 2 functions. You may recall, Quadrant 2 refers to “important but not urgent,” versus Quadrant 1 activities which are both “important and urgent” — like answering a client’s text.

Covey explained we’re a society that for the most part rewards Quadrant 1 activities (in the present) over Quadrant 2 activities (in the future).

Continuing to Grow

Understandably, companies reward those who “get stuff done.” Early in our careers or when we’re lower on the corporate ladder, it’s beneficial to be recognized as the person who can accomplish the urgent and important activities. Your ability to excel in Quadrant 1 is a key ingredient to initial success. But there’s a negative. As peers and managers recognize this ability, they foster and encourage it — by piling on more and more responsibility and autonomy!

That’s all well and good. Until you hit the inevitable “ceiling of complexity.”

That ceiling appears as a plateau of frustration — when you discover that doing what you’ve always done is not getting you to the next level of achievement.

Break Through Your Ceiling

When we hit this ceiling, our natural inclination is to double down and work even harder. We draw on all our resources and abilities to push forward. And why not? It’s been a dependable success strategy in the past. But despite our extra effort, it isn’t working. This is when Covey’s Quadrant 2 activities become essential.

Dr. Covey encourages us to slow down and make time for that which is important but not urgent — even at the expense of the urgent. That’s easier understood than practiced. We know it makes sense, but in the daily whirlwind of nonstop global communications and pressing obligations, it gets set aside. The “tyranny of the urgent” grabs center stage. Purposefully making time to work on what’s most important is extremely challenging in today’s always-connected world.

Change Your Future

If I want to change my future—and not get stuck in a Groundhog Day loop of urgent busyness—I have to think and act differently. If I want to smash through my own self-created ceiling of complexity (where what’s been successful for me in the past is now a liability in the present), I have to proceed differently. As always, change begins when a best thought is followed by a best action.

I’m a morning person; my best thinking and results happen then. So I created a set of daily habits that drive my behavior from the time I wake up until I engage in my first client interaction. These habits were designed to maximize the best time of my day. By design, I try and avoid interruptions. My phone is off. Social media is off. Radio and TV are off. Even my amazing wife supports me by not interrupting this healthy morning ritual.

Everyone and everything must wait until these daily habits are complete.

Nowadays, I take weekends off. But in the early years, I committed to my habits seven days a week to get them as engrained as brushing my teeth. Here’s the difference: Brushing is simple and takes only a few minutes. But my daily habits take 90 minutes and require a great deal of thought and reflection! Praying, meditating, reading, writing, and exercising all require discipline.

Is it worth it? Absolutely. These habits literally create my future.

I intentionally begin my day with reinforcing thoughts and behaviors that align with who I am becoming and help me make my greatest contribution to the world.

My time in the morning (doing important but not urgent actions) impacts my creativity and results for the entire day and lays the foundation for success.

Remember, the future is not something you enter. It’s something you create.