“Diligence is the mother of good luck.”

Benjamin Franklin

Diligence means attentive and persistent in doing a thing, steadily applied, active, unremitting, untiring, constancy of effort, speed and earnestness, and being meticulous.

I always like to look at the flip side of the coin, or the back side of something.  I have found over the years, it’s easier for me to identify the opposite in my life and take inventory of where I need to improve.  The opposite of diligence is: lazy, careless, lethargy, indifference, and apathy.  I don’t know about you but I can easily identify times that I have taken my foot off the gas when I shouldn’t have.

The thing about diligence is that we CAN NOT be diligent in everything.  We don’t have the time, energy, resources or strength to be unremitting in everything in life.  We must prioritize what we will be diligent in.  We must decide to be diligent in the activities that brings us the highest return on our investment of time, energy, and resources.

Should I be diligent in things that don’t move me towards my goals? What are my goals? What areas of life do I want to be better?  Do I want to lose weight and get fit? Then I must be diligent in my food choices and fitness activities.  Do I want a better relationship with my spouse? Then I must be diligent in scheduling time, activities, and communication with my spouse and make my life partner a priority.  Do I want better sales or business performance? Then I must be diligent in getting better training and executing what I’ve learned, be it marketing, sales, customer service, etc.

We can’t be attentive and persistent in very many things at once.  Choose wisely where you focus your diligence. Whatever you do,  put a heaping helping of it on your plate, and dig in!

Boo Yah!!