“Do you see a man skillful in his work?  He will stand before kings.  He will not stand before ordinary men.”  -Proverbs 22:29

So here we are with Thanksgiving about three weeks away, and Christmas about a month after that.  Whether you’re trying to make your sales quota, or trying to maintain your GPA, this point in the year seems to jam a stick in many men’s spokes.  Whatever the reason, the temptation appears this way: Why not just throw it in neutral and coast ’til the new year?

We’ve talked before about living a life of consequence so let me give you some grade A elephant chow — you cannot make your mark in life if you don’t finish strong.

Here’s my personal checklist to get and stay motivated:

Sleep — How many hours a night do I need, and how many am I getting?  It’s remarkable how much easier it is to stay motivated when you’re getting enough quality sleep.  This is one of those things where you must be present to win.  You can’t outsource it and you can’t be your best without it.  Without adequate rest, your judgment is impaired and your attention is spent trying to stay awake rather than on doing quality work.

Note that sleep researchers have determined that your brain needs that downtime to process all that great thinking you’ve been doing all day.  In a similar way, all the benefits of your exercise regimen accrue while you’re asleep. That’s right — you don’t build muscle in the gym, you build it while you’re asleep.

Depending on your age, you need between seven-and-a-half and nine hours of sleep per night for optimal health. (More than nine hours a night will shorten your life.  Seriously.)  Biologically, the sleep cycle is 90 minutes, so to be able to wake up when you mean to without feeling drugged, count back from your wake time in 90 minute blocks.  For example, since I want to get 7.5 hours of sleep and to wake up at 5:30 AM, I need to be asleep by 10:00 PM.

Naps are good — just keep them under 20 minutes.  Oh, and if you need more sleep than you’ve been getting, try turning in earlier.  Wayne Cordeiro calls that “sleeping in on the right side of the clock.”

Hydration — Am I drinking enough water?  I know coffee contains water, but your body and your brain need good old dihydrogen monoxide for you to feel like yourself.  You wouldn’t operate your car without oil in the crankcase would you?

Attitude — Am I able to see the tasks in front of me as important parts of the life and legacy I’m building?  Are they providing me with knowledge or experience I’ll be able to use later?  I have learned that I don’t always have the best vantage point to make that judgment while I’m in the middle of them.

Without a doubt there are assignments that do not seem to fit the context of your mission — and the younger you are, the less likely it is you can refuse them and live.  Strive to connect those mandatory tasks to your calling, wrap them up successfully and move on.

Anxiety —  Am I allowing fears to distract me?  When I am facing the likelihood of undesirable results or the fear of failure, I sometimes find it easier to procrastinate than to move forward.

This is the heart of it:  You and I must take authority over these fears and silence them.  Even if they seem to be the most real things in our lives, even if there is empirical evidence accompanied by 95% confidence interval statistics that predict that the thing you dread is coming true, you must run toward it to overcome it.  As Michael Hyatt says there is no failure — only learning.

Nutrition — Am I taking in enough of the right kind of foods?  You need protein and fats (yes!) to maintain muscle and brain health.  We’ll talk more about this later, but make sure you aren’t starving yourself and make sure you aren’t getting most of your calories from carbohydrates.

Exercise — Am I skipping my workouts?  Physical activity will increase your confidence, boost your mood, and bust your stress.  If you have access to a gym, make time for regular exercise.  If you don’t, do what I do — train at home.  If you outgrow a pull-up bar and a 55-lb. kettlebell, mister, I’d like to shake your hand.

Discipline — Am I considering how my actions or inaction will affect my family, my colleagues, my friends — the ones who depend on me?  Am I allocating my time,  attention, effort and money to get the outcomes I desire? I am a big believer in to-do lists as well as in Evernote for keeping track of the things I must get done.

Pro tip — For us men, testosterone is where a lot of our get up and go comes from.  Nearly everything on my checklist will affect your testosterone level for good or ill.  Look into it and stay motivated.

So how about you?  What’s weighing you down?  What are you doing to overcome it?  What did I miss on my checklist?  Add your comments below.