What?

William Shakespeare was right. "Being” is more important than "doing.” After all, we are human beings, not human doings. As a practical matter, right after you decide to "be or not to be” each morning, it's a good idea to ask yourself what you are going to do for the rest of the day. But don't stop there. Also ask what you are not going to do.

So What?

How you get started on an event or task often sets the tone for how the middle and end of the event or task will progress. When you get off to a good start, the rest often goes smoother. When you get off to a bad start, the rest often stays bad. This works in golf, relationships, careers and your life in general. Your life is made up of events called days, which make up weeks, which make up years, and so forth and so on. For the most part, life erases the board each day and allows you to get off to a fresh start. That is, unless you choose to continue the previous day's drama. Therefore, one of the most sensible things you can do if you want to have a good day…and a good life…is to simply get off to a good start. Rather than mindlessly plunging into tomorrow, living a "perpetual-sameness” life, why not make two good decisions that will help you get off to a good start? Why not purposely and consciously decide first thing in the morning what you are going to do and what you are not going to do?

Now What?

Don't make this hard. Simply think of the most important thing you need to do tomorrow and do it first thing in the morning. Don't allow anything, or any person, or any e-mail, or any phone call to distract you from whatever you feel is most important to you (not what is important to someone else). If you do not know what is most important to you, figuring that out is the exact thing you should be doing first thing in the morning. If you do not get in the habit of doing this, you will be doomed to living a channel-surfing life with someone else at the controls. Some of you will desperately want to make this idea more complicated than it is…don't go there!

Another candidate for the "most important thing you need to do tomorrow” category is… making a list of the things you are going to immediately stop doing. Learn a lesson from John Gagliardi, the legendary coach for Saint John's University football team. John Gagliardi is the winningest coach in football history. In the history of college football, there have been approximately 25,000 coaches. Of those, only 10 have won more than 300 games. As of the end of last season, John Gagliardi's teams have won over 400 games. John Gagliardi is the master of focusing on one thing at a time - the most important thing. He once said, "It's pretty hard to be undefeated unless you win the first game.” He also is a master at eliminating things that do not matter. Among other items, he has eliminated the following in his coaching program: staff meetings, player meetings, playbooks, spring practices, tackling in practice and precision warm-up drills. He has become the winningest coach in football history by working on the most important thing and eliminating things that do not matter. Why don't you try doing the same?

What are you going to do first thing tomorrow? What are you not going to do?