This is a fuller version of a post that appeared on February 22, 2010 on the blog JimMillikenProject.blogspot.com

We walk backwards into the future. It is nigh impossible to shake the supposition that today will be pretty much like yesterday, and tomorrow will be more of the same.

As we are carried effortlessly along our succession of similar days, our expectations are determined by our selective memory of what has gone before.

It matters not that the overwhelming evidence surrounding us says ‘tain't so. We solve that problem by not thinking about it. All those catastrophic surprises suffered by other people don't happen to us. They haven't happened yet, have they? See?

This comforting cocoon stifles growth and muffles our perception of opportunity as well as our awareness of danger. It disguises the long-term erosion of our prospects because there rarely is any particular pain or undue discomfort.

Teddy Roosevelt's “man in the arena” is an industrial-strength portrayal of the opposite. Without violating the great man's intent too seriously, we can pick up at the end of the famous passage from Roosevelt 's Sorbonne speech:

“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena . . . who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes up short again and again . . . who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

That depiction is magnificent. While it may be a bit strenuous for us, it makes the point: You engage your challenges with the confidence that there will be no failure, just gradations of success. You can accomplish marvelous outcomes with a much-less-demanding approach.

To carry further the Personal Productivity idea introduced yesterday, try this three-step process:

•  Spend a little time working up a single-statement Strategic Decision for where you've determined your life is going to go, avoiding dependency upon factors you can't control. Example: I'm going to make it a priority to regularly accomplish the initiatives that will prove my value to the organization.

•  Make clear decisions about three specific actions you're going to take in the next week to further that strategy. Example: First, I'll finish the research and complete the process improvement proposal I mentioned last week -- by Tuesday. Second, I'll talk with George tomorrow about the steps I'll take to improve our collaboration, and invite him to do the same. Third, I'll read and respond Thursday to the new technology study we all received today.

•  Track your progress as the week unrolls, and at its end. Example: At the end of each day, I'll take a couple of minutes to note what I've done that day on each of my three initiatives, and schedule time the next day to handle parts of each. I'll note my results Tuesday, and make decisions for the following week.

It would be great if people who try this – or have worked with a similar system -- drop a note to the rest of us by commenting on this post. Victory and defeat, as Roosevelt says, both can be glorious when you did it all yourself.