Each morning after a couple of cups of coffee, I look at the day ahead and ask myself “What can I do today to surpass the 50 percent rate?” ….that to me is the point where we overcome the negative forces of life and tilt the scales to the positive. To accomplish this takes focus, awareness, planning, and the belief that it can be done. Some days I reach 60 percent or even 80 percent, and indeed once in a while I do fall short with just a performance of around 35:) Each day is a new game with the scorecard of life. We all have tough days … that’s not the point … it’s the days that could go either way…. those are the days where we can make a difference. We can win more than we lose at the game of life. Whether we decide to participate or not, around us the game does go on.

What I try to do is break the days down into sections: morning, afternoon and night. That way the day as a whole does not get too overwhelming. There is a good chance that something will go not according to plan at some point during the day…. to look at the time in compartments can allow us to focus and redirect. If I fall behind in the morning, I still can catch up in the afternoon. The hardest task to do in the game of life is to stay centered and focused. The distraction is everywhere. Like everything else, the more we practice the better we get.

What has helped me, is to keep a scorecard of my performance. Each hour is given a percentage of how I’ve done. This has been a good way for me to see how things are going and what changes I need to make to increase the percentage. The greatest gift I have learned from this process, is how easily the mind can wander from the center and create distance from daily goals. The real enemy of success is distraction. When our minds are focused, a Grand Slam Home Run is truly possible. A scorecard can give us a good “up to the minute” evaluation of our performance.

My scorecard rates the hours between 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. which is the most productive time. Roughly 12 hours, where each hour is given a score, and when divided by 12 gives me an average, which is the score for the day. Some days are better than others, but one thing is for sure, I do know what is going on in my life and how it is affecting me. Over time one starts to see a correlation between the performance on the scorecard and the level of success. For me, the scorecard has let me see that time is not the enemy if we use it wisely. Perhaps when we see our lives on paper our vision becomes clearer.

Tip the scales,
love, Jennifer Avalon
© 2003 Jennifer Avalon