Prioritizing Opportunities
Everyone should periodically reevaluate their situation, and doing so is incredibly beneficial for all parties involved. As creatures of habit, humans tend to find their "comfort zones" and things that suit them best, which can be good and bad. In our comfort zones, we enjoy efficiency and economy of motion, skill at the task, and familiarity brought about by reputation, but the drawbacks include being stuck in a rut, doing the same thing, and getting the same results, repetitive tasks that are boring, and not growing.
We should all have monthly brainstorming sessions to identify our strengths and weaknesses to reach our full potential. It is possible to brainstorm in a variety of ways, from sticky notes on the wall to lists on a piece of paper, but my favorite method is a two-fold approach where you begin with a blank sheet of paper and three columns. The first is "increase", the second is "decrease", and the third is "maintain", and you then list keywords under each column. Identify the things you want to grow or improve in the "increase" column, the things you want to stop doing in "decrease" and the things you want to keep doing at the same level under "maintain." With this chart of keywords, you take a separate sheet of paper for each one and elaborate on it mainly through a "cost versus reward" method while concentrating on how effective possible courses of action are.
Developing a "road map" for your plans based on your list requires you to keep in mind that some opportunities generate a bigger impact than others since some sharpen your skills while others can be revolutionary in nature, such as learning a new trade or completing a project you have been putting off for years. Once you have identified which opportunities are the hardest and which are the simplest, some people prefer to tackle the smaller tasks first before taking on the larger ones, but however you do it, the journey of self-improvement begins with one step and should never end. Identifying your opportunities is the first step to keeping yourself accountable. This can be done on a calendar or by getting a friend to serve as your accountability partner. It is also worth noting that having company on your journey will help you stay committed to your goals.
It is worth noting that the journey of Self-improvement is one that never ends as all of us can always improve and become better at something. While humorous in nature that is much insight that can be drawn from the Warner Brothers' show "Pinky And The Brain".
Pinky And The Brain, property of Warner Brothers’