We humans have all sorts of quirks. From moment to moment, our desires can change. Our interests can change. We can get distracted, and trick ourselves into diverting away from serving our goals and values. And like any habit, the more it happens, the harder it is to get yourself free from it.
Now that I’ve been filling out a Today Card each day for a long time, I find that there are two things to keep in mind that help to get a better score each day:
- Make one big decision about the day, and put aside big decision-making for the rest of the day. It’s not up to you anymore to think, you just need to do.
- Remind yourself that you trust in the decisions you made when you filled out the card. It should be rare that you need to re-think or re-evaluate.
When you fill out your card, the idea is to put faith in yourself. Have faith in the decision you made at the beginning of the day—in what you decided was important as the day began. And follow through.
You experience the flip-side of this when you drag your feet—when you start doing a bunch of items that aren’t in the card. You’re showing a lack of trust in your earlier decision. Or, you feel the gravity of the true importance of those items, and you’re afraid of getting started on them.
Either way, the fix is the same. Use the card as a divider. Divide your day in two: before the card is filled out and after. Decide before. Wrestle with doubt, fear, and conflicting priorities before. But the decide. Fill out the card. Commit. After that, stop doubting, stop fearing. Just follow what you put on the card. Display some faith in yourself—in the decisions you made. Just get down to doing.