Igniting your talent begins with a single conversation; realizing its power may involve longer-term development.
There is no short cut for development. Musicianship, building a market, fluency in a foreign or IT language, healthy weight loss, becoming a masterful manager or leader, all require consistent and disciplined action.
One great development tool is what we call a Daily Action Pack.
The Daily Action Pack is a group of small actions that you take each day (at least 5 days per week) that, over time: give you a near certainty of realizing your hope. It is intended to give you the consistency you need to accomplish what’s truly important to you. It also gives you a way of completing your work each day, of punching out, of knowing that you did your share.
The Daily Action Pack can be expressed in time (spend 2 hours a day writing), in number of actions (make 12 phone calls), results (close 2 sales per day) or a combination (make 8 phone calls, close 2 sales, and spend 1 hour reading industry related materials).
Sample Daily Action Pack (A)
- 20 minutes of online research
- Write 2 pages in my notebook
- Make one bold request
- 5 minutes of organizing my office before leaving for the day
- Speak to one new person about my hope
If there are a number of varied and valuable actions that you would like to take, consider devising a point system. Each day your daily action pack might consist of different combinations of useful actions. Each action taken would earn you points and your daily action pack would be completed when you reached 100 points.
Sample Daily Action Pack (B)
- 20 minutes of online research (5 points)
- Write 2 pages in my notebook (10 points)
- Post a new blog piece (20 points)
- Make one bold request (10 points)
- Update my website (10 points)
- Speak to one new person about my hope (10 points)
- 5 minutes of organizing my office before leaving for the day (5 points)
- Spend an hour on marketing materials (10 points)
- Complete my self-care list (15 points)
If you’re playing for 60 points a day your Daily Action Pack would be complete if you:
- Post a new blog piece (20 points)
- Make one bold request (10 points)
- Update my website (10 points)
- 5 minutes of organizing my office before leaving for the day (5 points)
- Complete my self-care list (15 points)
Total 60 points
The most important part of the Daily Action Pack is that you complete it. Start small. Put things on it that you look forward to. As you get comfortable with a certain routine, stretch yourself a bit. And of course…enjoy!
