Today was a day that I didn’t see coming.

Yesterday I was completely pumped; I had finally finished up a project that had been nagging at me for weeks. I was raring to go.

Today I fizzled out completely. Has that ever happened to you?

WHAT HAPPENED???

The first place I went wrong was that I didn’t have my week, therefore my day planned out on my Action Planner.

I was scattered. It was just like old times.

I didn’t do my morning “opening exercises” after booting up my computer, a short routine that sets me up for a productive start every morning. I went straight to browsing email and checking out websites. Big mistake.

And I didn’t even make an effort to do my Circuit, something for me that has become the cornerstone to maintaining peace and order in my home and office. Without it I am just asking for trouble in the form of frustration and lost productivity.

I was in a fog. It was just like old times.

I didn’t start up any of my online radio talk shows that always get me pumped. I didn’t turn on my MP3 to record or to listen to. The silence was… uninspiring.

It was just like old times. It really was.

I did do a few things of value, but none of them had anything to do with my target for the day.

None of them had anything to do with the routine and systems I had set up and seen so much progress from. It was all so… ineffective.

You guessed it, just like old times.

THE DOOR

And then I got the knock on my door.

The one I always get when things are out of CONTROL.

The same one that brings back memories of the old days when I was embarrassed to answer “the door”.

You may know it, the one that especially is sure to come when the kids have been off for a snow day the day before and the one that comes when I’ve been out for the evening the night before and that ALWAYS comes when I have not done my Circuit.

I should have known. It was just like old times.

GETTING CLEAR

Today… while I floundered through the fog… I could see one thing. It loomed large throughout the day. I could hardly miss it as I realized how alien “the fog” had become to me.

I saw that I have… over time… become a new person. A person who is moving forward, in a straight line, in the direction that I want to go.

I have come to expect it.

And I now knew without a doubt, the secret that was so elusive to me before. Do you know what it is?

THE SECRET TO SUCCESS

The secret to success is easier than I would have imagined.

After you start using it, there is no way you will want to go back. And if you do… for a day… you will marvel at how far you’ve come.

The secret can be summed up in a few words.

Planning… Routine... Systems… Consistency... Focus... Leverage… Self Discipline... Support…

These words that I would never consider in my younger days, because I had always considered them restricting, turned out to be the keys to freedom.

They make a world of difference, your world… a different world.

Start your engines!

Janice Ferrante is the Queen of KAOS. You can learn more about how to Conquer KAOS and take CONTROL by visiting her website at http://www.queen-of-kaos.com. Also be sure to sign up for her free ezine containing more practical tips, articles and resources at http://www.queen-of-kaos.com/qoktipssub.html .