Life has an uncanny knack of getting away from us. For many of us, life leads us; we don’t lead it. Too often, we allow life to take over, moving us from here to there with little control of our destination.  Family, job, friends, bills, it all has a way of putting us on our heels and making us feel as if we’re out of control.

What if we were to do something different to gain that control back?

What if that something or somethings were small, simple, repeatable, but impactful? Wouldn’t that be nice?

Life is unpredictable; you can’t control it. But you can be deliberate on a daily basis.

Every morning, as I drop my daughters off at school, I tell them to have a great day and to; creates something, learn something and share something and it’s from this daily routine that I’ve realized that if we can do those three simple things every day, our life would be amazing.

Repeated every single day, these three simple actions can fundamentally change our day to day life and our life in the long term.

Create Something

When we create something, we are building something new. We’re tapping into our creative mind. Creation requires challenging the status quo. It requires awareness. Creativity requires a connection and ownership to change, to growth and improvement or the act of creativity for the sake of creativity, as in art. When we create something, we’re being additive. We are giving to our workplace, our school, our home, our family, to our friends or society. By creating something every day we’re improving our surroundings and the lives of others around us, no matter how small or how big. Creating is the act of building something and the act of change. Commit to creating something every day; a new process at work, a blog post, a piece of art, a story, a presentation, a new client, a new workflow design, anything. Put yourself in a position where you can create something new every day. It’s how you add to life.

Learn Something

There is nothing you can do that’s as impactful as learning. Our personal development and growth are paramount, yet it’s far too easy to let life get in the way. The day to day becomes our master and learning is an afterthought. To those who look to maximize life, learning is anything but an afterthought. Learning is personal growth and the more we learn, the more we’re capable of, the more opportunities that are opened for us. Learning is the selfish act in this trio, as we are the biggest beneficiaries of learning. The more we learn, the more we grow, the more enriched our lives become.  Learning is the answer to preventing and solving so many of life’s problems. Start looking for ways to deliberately learn every day. Build a learning path. Look for ways you can learn each and every day. Learn how to do something you didn’t know how to do. Learn about something you were unaware of. Learn about history, learn about a new product, learn about your competitors, learn something new about a coworker, your boss or a friend, learn something about your neighborhood or the environment. It’s less about what you learn and more about making sure you learn something new every single day.

Share Something

Giving, it’s a value we all cherish. Few of us would say we give enough. Giving is one of those things we all say we need to do and want to do, but it always seems to end up on the next days list. We just never seem to get around to giving as much as we think we should. With the exception of special events, mothers days, birthdays, and of course Christmas, giving is a crap shoot, and all of us know we can do more. Sharing is giving. It’s a way to acknowledge the presence and importance of others. By sharing regularly, we include others into our lives and validate their value to us. Sharing is inclusive; it connects us to everyone around us. It makes sure we aren’t an island and that we are part of something bigger. When we don’t share, we isolate ourselves, and we are not completely participating in our community, our family or our work. Find time to share every day. Sharing doesn’t mean buying presents, but it can mean sharing an idea you’ve had, sharing a tool, sharing information like an article you read that you think someone could benefit from. It could mean sharing your car to give someone a ride. It could mean buying the coffee for the person behind you in line at Starbucks. Maybe it’s helping on a project that a co-worker is struggling with. Regardless of what it is, look for ways to share every day. It’s good for the soul.

Our lives can get out of control. Days can be overwhelming. It’s too easy to lose our way. But when we commit to creating something, learning something and sharing something every day, it’s a lot harder for the challenges of life to take hold.

Every morning when you wake up, make a commitment to creating, learning and sharing at least one thing. Then when you get home, write down what they were. Were you able to do it? Did you do each one that day? Share what you did with your spouse or friends. Tell them how it felt. Was it hard? Why did you choose the things you did?  Start a streak and see how long you can go without missing a day. Mark each day you did all three on your calendar. Keep it going, you’ll be amazed at how your life will change.

Every day my daughters and I start the day with the reminder,  to create, learn and share. It’s amazing what happens when we do.