John C. Maxwell - Make Today Count: The Secret of Your Success Is Determined by Your Daily Agenda

2004 by John C. Maxwell.

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Scriptures noted NRSV are taken from THE NEW REVISED STANDARD VERSION of the Bible. Copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of The Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. All rights reserved.

Scriptures noted NIV are taken from the HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

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First eBook Edition: June 2008

ISBN: 978-1-59995-140-9

Also by John C. Maxwell:

RUNNING WITH THE GIANTS

TODAY MATTERS

THINKING FOR A CHANGE

ETHICS 101

Id like to say thank you to:

Margaret Maxwell, who makes every day of my life great;

Charlie Wetzel, my writer;

Stephanie Wetzel, who proofs and edits every manuscript page;

and Linda Eggers, my assistant.

Make Today a Masterpiece

H ow would you describe your life? Are you achieving what you desire? Are you accomplishing the things that are important to you? Do you consider yourself a success? How do your prospects look for the future?

If I could come to your house and spend just one day with you, I would be able to tell whether or not you will be successful. You could pick the day. If I got up with you in the morning and went through the day with you, watching you for twenty-four hours, I could tell in what direction your life is headed.

When I tell this to people at conferences, theres always a strong reaction. Some people are surprised. Some get defensive because they think I would be making a snap judgment about them. A few get ticked off because they think my claim sounds arrogant. Others are simply intrigued and desire to know why I make such a statement.

The answer lies in the fact that the secret of your success is determined by your daily agenda. If you make a few key decisions and then manage them well in your daily agenda, you will succeed.

You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. You see, success doesnt just suddenly occur one day in someones life. For that matter, neither does failure. Each is a process. Every day of your life is merely preparation for the next. What you become is the result of what you do today. In other words... You are preparing for something. The way you live your life today is preparing you for your tomorrow. The question is, What are you preparing for? Are you grooming yourself for success or failure? As my father used to tell me when I was growing up, You can pay now and play later, or you can play now and pay later. But either way, you are going to pay. The idea was that you can play and take it easy and do what you want today, but if you do, your life will be harder later. However, if you work hard now, on the front end, then you will reap rewards in the future.

THE MAKINGS OF A MASTERPIECE

You can make every day of your life a masterpiece. Isnt that idea appealing? The question is, How? What does it take? I believe there are two ingredients necessary to make every day a masterpiece: decisions and discipline. They are like two sides of the same coin; you could call them goal setting and goal getting. And they cant be separated because one is worthless without the other. I say that because...

Good Decisions Daily Discipline =

A Plan without a Payoff

Daily Discipline Good Decisions =

Regimentation without Reward

Good Decisions + Daily Discipline =

A Masterpiece of Potential

Time is an equal opportunity employer, but how we treat time is not equal. Time is like a block of marble. Give a block of marble to an average person, and you end up with... a block of marble. But put it in the hands of a master sculptor, and watch what happens! The sculptor looks at it with an artists eye. First, he makes decisions about what it will be. Then he practices the disciplines of his craft until he has transformed lifeless stone into a masterpiece. I believe you and I can become like the sculptor. We can learn to become master craftsmen, not of stone but of our lives.

GOOD DECISIONS TODAY WILL GIVE YOU A BETTER TOMORROW

It seems obvious that good decisions help to create a better tomorrow, yet many people dont appear to connect their lack of success to their poor decision making. Some people make choices, then experience negative consequences, yet wonder why they cant seem to get ahead in life. They never figure it out. Others know their choices may not be good for them, but they make them anyway. Such is the case with the alcoholic who keeps drinking excessively or the person who engages in one abusive relationship after another.

Nobody says that good decisions are always simple, but they are necessary for success. Theodore Hesburgh, former president of Notre Dame University, admonished:

You dont make decisions because theyre EASY;

You dont make decisions because theyre CHEAP;

You dont make decisions because theyre POPULAR;

You make decisions because theyre RIGHT.

You begin to build a better life by determining to make good decisions, but that alone is not enough. You need to know what decisions to make. Ive given the subject a lot of thought, talked to many successful people, and narrowed down the list of critical areas for success to twelve. I call them the Daily Dozen:

1. Attitude: Choose and display the right attitude daily.

2. Priorities: Determine and act on important priorities daily.

3. Health: Know and follow healthy guidelines daily.

4. Family: Communicate with and care for my family daily.

5. Thinking: Practice and develop good thinking daily.

6. Commitment: Make and keep proper commitments daily.

7. Finances: Make and properly manage dollars daily.

8. Faith: Deepen and live out my faith daily.

9. Relationships: Initiate and invest in solid relationships daily.

10. Generosity: Plan for and model generosity daily.

11. Values: Embrace and practice good values daily.

12. Growth: Seek and experience improvements daily.

If you settle these twelve issues by making the right decision in each area and then work to manage those decisions daily, you can be successful.

ATTITUDE

I discovered the importance of attitude in 1964 when I was seventeen years old. My high school basketball coach, Don Neff, took me aside at the beginning of my senior season and told me that he wanted me to be captain of the team. I was excited, but I was also a little surprised, because I knew that my teammate John Thomas was a better player than I was. But then Coach Neff said something that explained it. John, he said, you have the best attitude on the team, and it influences the other players.

Just a few weeks later, I was named Citizen of the Month at my school. Why? Once again, it was because of my attitude. My teachers said they loved my attitude. Then it sank in. My attitude was making a difference in my life. And it was making an impact on the people around me. Thats when I made my attitude decision: