Alex Shalman.comPractical Personal Development

This article is part of the How To Become An Outstanding Person In Twelve Weeks series. The twelve weeks will allow you to tap into your hidden potential and become a productive power house like the infamous “first American”, Benjamin Franklin.

While I believe that anyone and everyone could accomplish “outstanding” status, I also believe that it takes dedication and elbow grease. I present you with a step-by-step guide to accomplishing this goal, just dig in and start now.

The way the excel journals function is that I work on one virtue per week, concentrating all my efforts on the task as hand, while recording the slip ups in the other virtues as they progress naturally. I won’t comment on the slip ups until that specific virtue gets its week.

Resolution (Week 4 of 12)

My Progress With Resolution

Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve. This virtue took a lot of motivation on my part, but now I can say that I get it! In order to succeed at this virtue, you need to plan ahead, and be equipped with tools for getting things done.

What works for me is writing things down, but you may have a different approach from what I’ve read in self help and personal growth books. The formats that I use are: To-do lists, goals lists, and most important things of the day.

Today’s MIT list looks as follows (I limit it to three tasks):

1. Final edit for take-home exam
2. Study pharmacology – 2 hours
3. Write one blog article

And my to-do list looks as follows (just a brief excerpt):

1. Pay electric bill
2. Buy cell phone charger
3. Go grocery shopping

One thing that I do not account for in these lists are my daily habits. I may have a routine-building list when I am trying to implement a new habit, but in general I want to keep my lists small so they look and feel more manageable.

If you don’t make a resolution – you do not need to keep a resolution. Before you make a commitment to perform a certain task or get something done, ask yourself whether this commitment will take you towards or away from your goals and if you have enough time to complete it without giving up something of more importance. It’s okay to turn things down and delegate tasks that are not a wise use of your time.

From my on going progress with this project I can clearly see that my weekend habits are whats stopping me from running on all throttles when it comes to being outstanding. So the thing to think about here is:

1. Is it okay to take the weekends off to let yourself go?
2. Should you do away with weekends and treat them like weekdays?

I’d like to open these questions for discussion.

Becoming Outstanding Series

• How To Become An Outstanding Person In Twelve Weeks

• Week 01 – Temperance

• Week 02 – Silence

• Week 03 – Order

• Week 04 – Resolution

• Week 05 – Frugality

• Week 06 – Industry

• Week 07 – Sincerity

• Week 08 – Justice

• Week 09 – Moderation

• Week 10 – Cleanliness

• Week 11 – Tranquility

• Week 12 – Chastity

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