“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”

Being born is a simple matter of showing up, but figuring out why you were born can be a challenge.

Were you born to write inspirational stories that motivate millions of readers?

To save patient’s lives?

To help raise the next generation of leaders?

Or, were you born to just sit on the beach and enjoy beautiful sunsets?

Finding your purpose and meaning can take a lifetime, but once you know what it is, how do you stay focused on living your purpose?

In an article in Inc Magazine, Benjamin P. Hardy suggested 5 ways to minimize the distractions you will encounter along the way.

I have used his story to create my own version of 5 simple ways to get your life on the right track:

Get Organized Today

Make sure that your environment is clean and organized.

Getting your life on the right track will be much easier if you get organized.

Disorganization requires you to expend physical and emotional energy on your stuff, that could be used to make progress along the way.

“Very few people have organized their lives to prioritize almost exclusively important and “deep” activity (e.g., learning, health, relationships, travel, and goals).” — Benjamin P. Hardy

This includes organizing your environment, your finances, your health and your time. Getting these organized will put you in a position to move down your desired path in life without your “stuff” holding you back.

Take the time to get organized now so that can move forward without the effects of disorganization holding you back.

Plan For Your Future

Very few people actually have a plan for their life. Because of this, they look back at their life with regrets over the plans they didn’t make and the goals they didn’t achieve.

Don’t live a life of regret!

Decide right now to create a plan for your future.

“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!” — Benjamin Franklin

Create a plan that will move you in the direction of your purpose. Develop this plan and set a goal to be living your purpose in six months, a year, or even two years.

The important thing is to have a plan!

Make Progress Every Day

Once you have a plan, you can begin to take action. Find a few minutes each day to complete at least one simple step that moves you closer to your goals.

One simple step each day adds up to 30 simple steps a month and 365 simple steps a year. Before long you will begin to see unbelievable results.

“If you don’t purposefully carve time out every day to progress and improve, then without question, your time will get lost in the vacuum of our increasingly crowded lives.” — Benjamin P. Hardy

Life is busy and if you don’t take the time to move forward on your goals every day, you will never achieve anything worthwhile.

Track Your Progress

The only way to know if you are on the right path toward your goals is to track your progress. If you not tracking your progress you will not know where you are, and might even be on the wrong path.

“If you’re not tracking the key areas of your life then you’re probably more off course than you think. If you were, to be honest with yourself, you would be stunned at how out of control things have become.” — enjamin P. Hardy

Studies have shown that tracking your progress can dramatically improve it. So, start tracking your progress today.

You can create a simple spreadsheet, use a Google Document, or just use the note feature of your phone.

The important thing is to find a way to track your progress that is easy to implement and provides the data that you need to know where you are along the way.

Take Time For Prayer or Meditation

Making progress toward your goals is challenging, and it takes a lot of time and energy. If you don’t take time to reflect and recharge along the way, you will burn out long before you achieve anything worthwhile.

“I have so much to do today that I’m going to need to spend three hours in prayer in order to be able to get it all done.” — Martin Luther

That’s why it’s important to spend time in prayer or meditation. When you spend focused time in prayer or meditation, things begin to happen. You will begin to see things in new ways.

If you are skeptical, try prayer or meditation a try for 30-days and see what happens.

In Conclusion

Getting your life on track can be a challenge and keeping it moving in the right direction isn’t the easiest thing to accomplish.

But we can help ensure that we stay on the right track by getting organized, and planning for the future.

Accomplishing at least one task each day that moves us closer to our goals, and keeping track of your progress helps keep us on the right path.

Finally, taking time for prayer or meditation will help you reflect and recharge along the way.