Diligence

Well, it's nice to see that you're studying hard. It's okay, obviously, if I'm writing this, I'm not either. Anyway, today's post is about goal-setting and diligence. I seem to consistently make goals for myself and then either forget about them or hope that they will happen naturally. Not a good philosophy in life. For example, in school, I say I'm gonna do all these notes from the book, lay them out, organize them, et cetera. But I never do. I have relied on my natural talent to take me through every year in my life thus far: AP classes, honors classes, normal classes, it didn't matter. I was always surprised as hell at the people who were like obsessing when the AP test time came or when there was a paper or something due in a class (even our senior papers in high school English). And I did well. I had a three-eight-five leaving high school. No easy for someone who never truly studied hard. Not even in a foreign language, and just a bit in history classes. So this lack of diligence is showing itself in not only my need to actually work when I came to college, but in other parts of my life, too. How is someone supposed to lose weight or build a relationship back up without diligence? It's a little tough and most times ends up in utter failure. You can't really use natural talent for that. (By the way, chocolate milk tastes shitty when you've been drinking it for the past 2 hours. It gets warm. Eww...).
Anyway, here are some tips I picked up that hopefully will be helpful with your future goal-setting from www.goalsguy.com !
1. Thou Shall Be Decisive
Success is a choice. You must decide what you want, why you want it, and how you plan to achieve it. No one else can, will, or should do that for you.
2. Thou Shall Stay Focused
A close relative to being decisive, but your ability to sustain your focus from beginning to end determines the timing and condition of your outcomes.
3. Thou Shall Welcome Failure
The fundamental question is not whether you should accept failure. You have no choice but to expect it as a temporary condition on the path way of progress. Rather, the question is how to anticipate failure and redirect resources to grow from the experience.
4. Thou Shall Write Down Thy Goals
Your mind while blessed with permanent memory is cursed with lousy recall. People forget things. Avoid the temptation of being cute; Write down your goals.
5. Thou Shall Plan Thoroughly
Planning saves 10 to 1 in execution. Proper planning prevents poor performance.
6. Thou Shall Involve Others
Nobody goes through life alone. Establish your own "Personal Board of Directors", people whose wisdom, knowledge and character you respect to help you achieve your goals.
7. Thou Shall Take Purposeful Action
Success is not a spectator sport - achievement demands action. You cannot expect to arrive at success without having made the trip.
8. Thou Shall Reward Thyself
Rewards work! Think of what you will give yourself as a result of your hard work, focus and persistence - you deserve it!
9. Thou Shall Inspect What Thy Expect
The Shelf life of all plans is limited. No plan holds up against opposition. Everything changes. Therefore inspect frequently and closely, it's an insurance policy on your success.
10. Thou Shall Maintain Personal Integrity
Maintain your commitment to your commitment. Set your goals, promise yourself that you will achieve them. Eliminate wiggle room and excuses. That's personal integrity!