A day doesn’t seem like much. And if you’re responsible for a group in today’s volatile environment, an awful lot of things are out of your control. That can be overwhelming, but if you use every day to make a little progress you can make big things happen. Here are four ways to make progress every day.

Do At Least One Thing to Help Your Team Accomplish the Mission

You and your team have a job to do. If you make a little bit of progress every day, you’re more likely to succeed than if you work in fits and starts.

Do At Least One Thing to Care for Your People

One of your jobs is accomplishing the mission through the group, and the other is helping team members succeed. Every day pick out one thing you can do to help at least one team member succeed at achieving his or her goals.

Do At Least One Thing to Move a Relationship Forward

Relationships are the mesh that holds a team together and makes progress possible. So, every day, do something to move at least one relationship forward.

Do At Least One Thing to Make Tomorrow Better

The future’s where you’re going to live the rest of your life. Do at least one thing today to make that future better. Learn a little. Plan a little.

Make It So

If you do at least these four things every day, you’ll make progress every day. That won’t happen by accident.

When you plan your day, plan for small things that you’ll do that day to make progress. Review them when you start your day. You might even want to write them on an index card and put the card in your pocket. When you evaluate your day, evaluate whether you were able to do those four small things. Then start the cycle over.

Bottom Line

Great bosses get results a day at a time. Every day try to do at least one thing to accomplish the mission, one thing to care for your people, one thing to move a relationship forward, and one thing to make tomorrow better.

Resource

The 347 tips in my ebook can help you make a little progress every day and Become a Better Boss One Tip at a Time.

More From Wally Bock

Leadership: Dinosaurs and Behavior Problems

Leadership: 3 Inconvenient Truths About Teams

Leadership: 5 Things You Can Do to Get Better Results

In addition to writing the Three Star Leadership blog, Wally Bock is an author, ghostwriter, writing coach and book doctor. In his past lives he has run a small publishing company, been a popular keynote speaker to audiences around the world, and served as a U. S. Marine. He loves good beer, good friends, and good stories.