Nothing is more motivating than progress. Taking baby steps forward can lead to amazing results: if you get 1% better every day you get thirty-eight times better in one year. My goal for creating this exercise was to identify which growth opportunity I should focus my attention on.
I like to make progress visual. I decided to map out my day and identify areas where I can make the biggest improvements in the shortest amount of time.
The areas I wrote down were: Sleep – Food – Exercise – Work – Passion Projects. Above every segment I drew how I thought my learning curve looked over the past couple of years.
For example, food had a nice learning curve. I spent a lot of time reading and learning about a healthy food plan.
My sleep learning curve is flat and that surprised me. I sleep approximately 1/3 of the day, but never paid attention to my sleep habits. When I asked around most people never studied sleep either. We agreed on having a sleeping schedule, getting enough hours of sleep and not using electronics before bedtime – that’s about it. We learn a little bit here and there, but no serious progress is made. It is almost as if we don’t care about 1/3 of our life.
This is an area were I can make progress quickly. I know very little about sleep so every article and book will give me new insights. A steep learning curve is very motivating; little wins fuel your motivation and that means it is easier to do the work.
I found this a great exercise to identify opportunities for growth in my life. In less than five minutes I had identified an area to focus on and now the books are ordered and I am eager to study. I challenge you to try this exercise: you will be amazed how rewarding it can be!