The Home of Steven Barnes
Author, Teacher, Screenwriter


Monday, September 10, 2012

Happy Days, Happy Life

Successful Days, Successful Life

It simply isn't possible to have thirty successful days in a row without having a successful month as well. And it follows that all you need to do to have a successful life is to live that life one day at a time...and each day an hour, a minute, a moment at a time.

How to do this? Ah, that's the meat of it. Life throws you curves. That's what it does. The last week I had plans to complete the next rewrite on my script, and copyedit the galleys for DOMINO FALLS, the sequel to DEVIL'S WAKE. But family issues drained a huge chunk of energy, and I was forced to postpone some of my career goals in order to deal with more important things.

Because the most important thing in my life is family. When your values are clear, decisions are rapid--even if they are difficult. And when you can decide what is most important, then you can ask where you want to be (in terms of your major goals, which reflect your major values) in ten years, five years, three years, one year, and six months. Three months, one month, one week, and tomorrow.

When you take the time to clarify your values in all four major arenas (body, mind, spirit/emotions, and money) and defined the most important goals, you can then determine what needs to be done TODAY to stay on track. And if, every day, you do all that can be done THAT day...there is no way you can fail in life. No fear. No guilt. Just clarity and clean effort, and the joy of creating a meaningful life.

One day, one hour, one moment at a time.

Steve

www.diamondhour.com

2 comments:

Some guy said...

Well, I'd argue that you could get hit by lightning on the thirty-first day... :0)

But on a related note, a while back you wrote a paragraph on a similar theme ending with "It is impossible to succeed every day, and fail at life". I copied it, carried it around with me, and read it quite a few times, particularly when I was heading off into the stratosphere worrying about things I couldn't take action on. It's not that I haven't run across a hundred variations of carpe diem - I even live in a New Age town - but somehow this one just resonated. It's been very helpful in letting me take specific action and getting things accomplished. I just thought I'd say thanks. (And warn you of the danger of lightning strikes.)

how to enjoy life said...

I think we must enjoy an every minute of life then life become very easy and happy too!!