Making priorities: we all suck at it, and here’s why
Firstly, I owe you all an apology. It’s been verrry quiet on my blog in the last 2 months.
Why? Because my wife (Sarah) and I had our very first child in that time. Our beautiful daughter Isla was born on May 3, 2014, 9 lbs 15 oz, and she is an utter dreamboat.
Secondly, I want to say that… frankly, I’m not sorry at all. Why? Because of today’s topic: priorities.
I want every single one of you to feel the POWER that having priorities has on your life and your productivity and view your life and activities differently.
We made this decision a long time ago…
My wife and I knew we wanted kids from when we started dating. We discussed it and knew it was something we both wanted for the future. We kept discussing it every so often to decide whether we wanted to take action now or later. Eventually, we decided in late 2012 that in 2013 we were to move towards having kids. We knew we were officially pregnant from August 2013. This resulted in our daughter Isla being born in May of 2014. And now our priority is to spend as much time as possible together with Isla. It’s that simple. So I’ve taken a lot of time off to look after Sarah recovering from labour, and I’ve taken extra holiday time within the first 8 weeks just to spend time with them both.
It’s because of this, I haven’t got round to doing a recent blog post. And I ain’t even remotely sorry, because I made my family a priority and this COMPLETELY changes and defines my daily activities.
Are you wasting your time?
How many times do we keep getting dragged into activities that are not congruent with our life goals? The student that has an exam that allegedly matters to them, yet you spend their days procrastinating and their evenings at parties. The lawyer that says their family matters yet they work long hours and nights away for the sake of supporting their family, yet they are never around. The musician that insists music is their passion but they are constantly out socialising and never practicing.
Do you see how their actions are totally incongruent with their alleged goals? It’s easy to laugh it off, but when you consider how far they are away from their goals and how easy it is to go nowhere fast, it’s not that amusing… and when you realise that every single one of us is doing stuff that is actually STOPPING US FROM ACHIEVING OUR PRIORITIES, it suddenly stops being a laughing matter.
What are your priorities?
Step 1: THE QUALITATIVE Consider the qualitative goals and priorities you have for your life. What stuff are you looking to achieve? Write them down. Seriously write them down!
Step 2: THE QUANTITATIVE Now, if those are your priorities, what activities MUST you be doing in a week to ensure you achieve them (e.g. if you’re a musician, PRACTICE and STUDY should be a regular and essential part of your week… otherwise you’re just kidding yourself). Write them down. Seriously, write those bloody things down!
Step 3: THE IMPLEMENTATION Put these activities in your diary. If you don’t put them in the diary, they won’t get done. Simple as that. If you put those activities in your diary, and give the most important activities the best parts of your day, you will start to see BIG results and changes in the areas you want to change. If you don’t, you won’t. Again, it’s that simple.
Step 4: THE PRUNING Theoretically this is optional, but in reality it’s essential. Look at your existing diary, and consider what you are doing that is getting in the way of your goals. E.g. If you’re a workaholic, staying late at the office is not congruent to a good family life. Just factoring in 1 hour on a Saturday morning won’t be enough. So find out what is getting in the way, and cross it out of your diary.
When you go through this process of focusing on your priorities, and making sure your behaviour and daily activities are 100% in line with those goals, you will start to see BIG changes… and you’ll also feel totally unashamed and unapologetic (like the top of the blog post!) when you spend your time moving towards your goals.
Stop wasting your time and start seeing your priorities become a reality…
This was meant to be a fun post but with a simultaneously serious exercise for all of you here today. I seriously hope you can see the power in reassessing your daily activities, and really making whatever your goals are your #1 priority.
Best of luck!