How to Get the Most Out of Every Day and Stay Consistently Productive

Years ago, I developed an acronym for the word TODAY² to use when training the individuals and teams I work with. It’s an effective reminder of six foundational mindsets and habits you need to continually achieve desired results.

Funny enough, I doodled it while myself and the management team were getting bawled out by my Dad! He was telling us that we need to use every single day wisely!

The letters in TODAY² stand for:

Time

Opportunity

Development

Assessment

Yield²

Time –

is a gift – your most precious commodity

Opportunity –

is everywhere, every day, if you’re primed for it

Development –

your personal growth is the quickest and surest way to success

Assessment –

should be done every day to keep you on track for your goals

Yield² – (Two forms of yield)

Yield 1: to Produce –

at least one measurable unit every single day!

Yield 2: to Serve and Submit –

be successful at the service of others not at the expense of others

If you follow this framework of thinking, you will get the most out of every day. When you put these six elements into practice, your dreams, plans, and goals come to life one step at a time, and when you use them all together, you’ll see exponential growth and daily progress!

I’ve seen the power of this acronym work effectively in my own life and the lives of those I share it with. I knew I had to get it out to more people, so I wrote a book about it called The Power of TODA(Y)². The book tells the story of a serious financial failure I made and how using these principles helped me dig my way out to the success I enjoy today.

I don’t know where you’re at in your life-journey, but I want to tell you that even though you can’t change your life in a single day, you can change where its headed. If you’re off track for reaching your goals, in just one day, you can change your direction. As long as you string more good days than bad days together, then you’re going to get a positive result.

I don’t know how TODAY² worked out so perfectly as an acronym, but I would use it as a summary of what’s worked for me so far. When I explain it to people, it just really rings true with them.

One, it’s really simplistic and memorable. It’s so complete, even though the parts are all different, but it doesn’t work well if even one is missing. They all fit together to make a complete whole. It’s a way of thinking that’s really powerful. It’s an effective assessment tool to judge what you do with your time each day.

Let’s look at the key points in each of these elements:

First, I’ll start with the word ‘TODAY’ itself.

It’s important how we live today because it affects all our tomorrows. The moves we make today set up and position us for the goals we hope to achieve in the future.

All we have is today – this moment – now. The past can never be regained. The future is not assured, and the only way to touch it is by what we do today. Every day is a gift, but it has a 24-hour expiry date! It must be used before it’s gone. Too often we put things off and say, “I’ll do it ‘when’…”

“I’ll start saving money when I make more money.”

 “I’ll improve my eating habits when the holiday season is over!”

“I’ll travel when I retire.”

This fallacy of “I can do it when…” is the wrong type of thinking because tomorrow is not a sure thing. Anybody that’s successful doesn’t take a month, a year, or a decade to decide to take action, they do something towards it right away.

If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing now.

“If it’s worth doing, even if you aren’t fully ready, just do something!” – Jae Park

Time:

We need to put a high value on our time because it’s precious. It’s a finite commodity that can’t be bought, sold, traded or given. There’s also no way to know when it will run out, so we need to make the most of our time and treat it with the respect it deserves.

We all have the same 24 hrs in a day. What we each choose to do with them is what makes the difference. Some people do more with a year than others do in a lifetime. Others complain that they have no time to do the things they want to do, yet they seem to have time to play games on the phone, watch T.V., interact on social media, and hug their pillow in the morning while they keep pressing snooze!

 “Time = life; therefore, waste your time and waste your life, or master your time and master your life.”– Alan Lakein – author on personal time management

What we do with our time is like an investment. We have the power to choose what we invest our time in. We need to make sure we are using our time for the highest priority activities.

Every day, be conscious of what investments you’re making with your time.

Opportunity

“See the opportunity all around you, or not!”- Jae Park

Opportunities are all around us all the time. We need to train ourselves to recognize them and act on them quickly. An opportunity is a chance. Every day, in different ways, we choose to give something a chance.

It could be one of those times when you have a meeting with somebody and you really don’t feel like going, but if your brain is primed, you’ll think, “Maybe I don’t feel like it, but it could be my opportunity. Maybe they will lead me to something that I really need, or maybe I have something they need!”

The problem with opportunities is that they have a short shelf life. Often, if we don’t grab them now, they’ll be gone because someone else took them, or it’s just too late. Sometimes we get a second chance, but often we don’t.

When you say yes to an opportunity, it seems to open the door to more and more!

“Acting on opportunities positions you for more opportunities!” – Jae Park

I’m also a strong believer in offering opportunities to others – I make it my personal mission! You will reap what you sow, so sow some opportunities into the lives of those around you.

“Look for the opportunities to help others be successful.” – Jae Park

Development

Personal development is the best time-saving device you’ll ever invest in. The more you grow, the less time it takes to reach your goals. Most of the time, we don’t get where we want to go because we get in our own way.

Every human is born with some capabilities and possibilities. It’s what we do to develop them that makes the difference. We should all be on the road to becoming a better model than our old self.

I like the saying by Jim Rohn: “You’re either green and growing, or red, ripe, and dying!” It doesn’t matter what aspect of life you look at, physically, spiritually, mentally, relationally, or financially, it is not good to remain in ‘maintenance mode’.

If you’re not pressing forward, you’re slipping backwards. There are only two directions – forwards or backwards, growing or dying! If you feel like you’ve finally ‘arrived’, you’re wrong! There is always more to learn, more to grow, and more to improve!

“Growth is the great separator between those who succeed and those who do not. When I see a person beginning to separate themselves from the pack, it’s almost always due to personal growth.” – John C. Maxwell – American author, speaker, and pastor, specializing in Leadership Development

Assessment

Assessment is where the power for real change begins. When I said earlier that we may not completely change our life in a single day, but that we can change and set a new direction in a day – that only happens when we take time to do an assessment.

If you don’t know where you are, you won’t know how to change to get where you want to go. Assessment is life’s most important navigation tool. It’s like a compass that shows if you’re on course or not – a tool that you can use to take you where you need to go. If you don’t stop to assess where you are, even if you seem to be just a little off course, it can cause big problems in the future.

You can make course adjustments – once a minute, once an hour, even once a day, but it has to happen. People are going through their day checking emails 80% of the time. They’re busy doing non-important work. There are more and more distractions nowadays, with smartphones, social media, and the internet. Everyone and everything, is vying for our attention, but we must give attention to our lives if we want a life worth living!

Make quiet reflection time a mandatory habit in your day.

Remember, time is valuable. It is a finite commodity. When opportunity knocks, it doesn’t stand by the door waiting. Make sure you are taking regular assessments on how you are developing your use of time and opportunity.

Yield² – There is a 2 beside this word that represents the exponential power you’ll see in your life when you use the two different forms of the word yield together every day.

The first meaning of Yield is:

1 – to Produce.

We need to have the mindset that each and every day we must produce something that can be measured – a unit of something that’s tangible. You actually have to roll up your sleeves, get to work, and create something to show results at the end of the day. Make the time to phone that potential client, write a page for your book, or draw the prototype for your invention idea.

The actual things we produce – our daily yield – is the perfect self-assessment measuring tool.

 “You don’t actually do a project; you can only do action steps related to it. When enough of the right action steps have been taken, some situation will have been created that matches your initial picture of the outcome closely enough that you can call it “done.”– David Allen – productivity consultant and creator of the time management method known as “Getting Things Done”

Producing something, no matter how small, also gives you a feeling of accomplishment that fuels you to keep going. It’s all the small steps each day that get you to where you want to be.

“Small wins lead to big victories”- Jae Park

The second part of Yield is:

2 – to Serve and Submit. 

It’s about yielding to the law of love and generosity by doing everything for the benefit of others rather than at their expense. When you yield to these principles, you will experience the exponential power of multiplication in every area of your life.

When you bring value to others and focus on their needs, wants, and desires, things come really easy to you. That’s when you start attracting success.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. I hope it will help you as much as it’s helped me. So, in the wise words of my father, you can –

“Use every single day wisely!” – Dad

For more in-depth training on how to activate The Power of TODAY² and hear my own personal story, check out the book available here.