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You are what you do today

  • Published
  • By Chief Master Sergeant Derek Love
  • 20th Component Maintenance Squadron
Have you ever set a goal for yourself that you were bound and determined to accomplish? Your intent may have been to eat healthier, become a bodybuilder or be a better supervisor or leader. But, several days or weeks into your plan, life got in the way and you have found yourself off course once again.

Many years ago, I was looking for a good book on leadership and found a CD containing a speech by sales expert and author Brian Tracy. I want to share with you a valuable thought process I learned from listening to one of his speeches. This helped me accomplish a lot and I think it will help you as well, regardless of what your target.


If your plan is to eat healthier, you will eventually be faced with the most delicious desert you’ve ever seen and unable to resist. If you’re trying to become a bodybuilder, something is going to eventually derail your next workout. If you’re determined to be a better supervisor or leader, your Airmen are going to be TDY or on leave, or that base exercise you forgot about is going to delay your big kick-off plan. It’s like fate-itself will conspire against you to keep you from achieving your goal.

Don’t worry, all is not lost! No matter what happens to keep you from your ambition you’re always just one day away from getting back on track, or back into your “performance zone.” You have to be operating in this performance zone in order to reach your goal.

What does that mean? It means “you are, what you do today.” This is a powerful tool and thought process that will help you get back on-track to accomplishing your aspiration. Even if you devoured a gallon of chocolate ice cream yesterday or missed several days of working out because of rain or working late, the minute you resume doing the thing your goal requires, you are back to operating in your performance zone and back on-track to accomplishing that target.

“If you do the things a leader does, what are you?,” said Tracy, You are a leader. Even if you didn’t do those things yesterday, the minute you start doing them, you are.” For example, if you haven’t been a good supervisor or leader in the past, the minute you start doing the things a good supervisor or leader does, you are just that…a good supervisor or leader. The more you continue doing those things, the more you will become the outstanding version of whatever it is that you want to be.

As a supervisor, your responsibilities include getting to know your people and performing regular feedback sessions with them. This helps you lead and mentor them so they can meet and exceed your expectations. It is also so they can become the outstanding leaders and mentors they want to be as well.

Unfortunately, there are still supervisors out there who have not done this yet. They can start being that outstanding supervisor and leader today. You are what you do today! The minute you start doing the things a good supervisor does, what are you? You’re a good supervisor!

If you sit down with your Airmen today and get to know them and stay engaged with them, over time they will know you care about them. They will have more respect for you and they will begin thinking of you as a good supervisor. The more you do these small things the better supervisor, leader and mentor you’ll become.

Setting a goal to become a better version of yourself, whether it’s to be healthier, stronger, a better spouse, a better friend, a better supervisor or better leader is not that hard. You’ll start out with good intentions and be determined to achieve your goal, but something along the way is going to happen that will try to derail your plan.


When it does, you just need to get back to doing the things that a good, you fill in the blank, does, today! This gets you back into your performance zone and puts you back on track to achieving your goal. Remember, it’s not about what you did or didn’t do yesterday, you are, what you do today!