Spot check! So....how have you been?

Check your calendar. Whether it's the 3rd week of the first month of the not-so-new-anymore-year, or the last semester before graduation, or two weeks before your unemployment benefits run out, or that dark hour before the deadline, you are always included in a cycle of sorts. As some things begin, some things end, and in between you do your things.

Checking in with yourself using our first question (in bold, see? Look up.) is basic. Asking yourself this is a self-check, a way to step back and assess your progress. Check your calendar again. At this point, have you made any concrete steps towards your goals?

Are you checking your progress? You should, because how will you know how far you've come if you don't keep track, or get to see how far you've yet to go?

Spot-checking helps you in at least 3 ways:

• You take a mini-breather when you detach from what you're doing, which can help you when you've painted yourself into a corner.
  
• Your detachment -- the act of distancing yourself from an object or a situation -- gives you perspective. Perspective lets you think things coolly and determine if what you're doing is actually taking closer to (or farther away from) where you plan to go.
• The break and the perspective helps you align your actions towards your goals.

If you need help visualizing stuff and you're more inclined to draw out your ideas technologically  rather than with crayons, why not try Xmind or FreeMind so you can capture your plans for world domination, and even get to share them electronically? Plus, the act of writing things out can help you unclog your creativity and organize your thoughts clearly, a big boost in any situation.

If you're not so much into higher tech, the classic pen and paper route works just as well (some would call this "going analogue."). Add a cork-board or whiteboard to display your various project time-lines, toss in a wall-calendar, you should be good to go.

Spot-checks are like tune-ups and course-corrections. The whole point of a spot check is to see where you are, and if what you are doing is in line with your best step forward. A tune up is to see whether that step is taken in good form, and if you can keep on going -- in good form-- until the next tune up. The course-correction, obviously, is to steer you back on track and keep you on it.

Digital and analogue aids aside, the driving force in your life should be you, not your fears, or your non-choices (also known as "living this life by default," as in, "It's not my fault, my schedule is just so crammed something's bound to slip," or, "Already? Like, due today? I'm so sorry, time just slipped away from me.").

Don't fake out and "let time slip away" from you. Use your time wisely and make it your partner. Know what you want, what you can do to get it, and commit to working with the time you have to get it.