Successful Outcome - of a day

[Siva]

I think it was George Bernard Shaw who said "The secret of being miserable is to have the time to think whether we are happy or not".

Anyway I find that time while driving back home from work. And I try to think about how the day went. Perfect days being few many a times I wonder what to make of the day where somethings have gone well and somethings have not.

In other words, if a day can have a successful outcome - what would it be? Is it possible to think of (or measure) the success of a day? I think about this on a daily basis, so I wanted to get some inputs on this forum to see if you could throw some light.

thanks,
Siva

 

[AMS]

This is not at all scientific, but my current measure is how relaxed I feel during the day. If something is in the back of my head making me nervous, then I don't think I've been very successful. This allows me to feel like I've accomplished something, even if it's just piddling around straightening up my office, because I've got everything defined and know it's "OK" to be doing that. Since GTD, I must say I've had far more good days than bad days (with very few "perfect" days, but I've sort of given up on that).

 

[TPorter2]

Yesterday, my boss told me that I hit a homerun. This was because I did some research and found out some information that will be very helpful on a project. In fact, he said it was a grand slam homerun. (He likes sports metaphors) This struck me as being a highly successful day.

 

[Anonymous]

The Remains of the Day

I like the George Bernard Shaw quote. It made me wonder if it might help some of those who have the fear of work thread going....

I think the best days are those I made better for someone else - boss, wife, customer, kids, etc. The bad ones are those after which I feel like I didnt try hard enough or wasnt as productive as I could have been. I'm not trying to win the world, so my criteria may not be near as ambitious as some.

Most importantly, I think you have a great habit in place - that of reflection. So often, we just turn on the radio on the way home and forget about where we've been, who we've talked to, etc. that day. As Jim Rohn says, some people are just trying to get through the day - others [through reflection] try to get from the day.

Keep up the good work...

 

[Jason Womack]

Re: Successful Outcome - of a day

In other words, if a day can have a successful outcome - what would it be?

For what it's worth?

A successful day for me is a day where I don't judge what I did as wrong, off, bad, or in error in any way. Did I focus in the right places, with the right tools, with the right attention, and do I trust I made the right decisions?

There is no matrix I've been able to make to get that. No, it's simply a matter of going from one context to another, from one "list" to another, from one conversation to the next...focusing on the most successful "moment" possible.