My friend and productivity buddy Ms. Moot emailed me this quote:
"You eventually learn that true priorities are like arms; if you think you have more than a couple, you're either lying or crazy."I'm not sure who originally wrote it, but it certainly rings true.
What is a priority in your life? You say it's A, but why do X, Y, & Z always take precedence? A is not a priority in your life until it is what you do before X, Y, & Z. In fact, if it truly was a priority, you wouldn't think to do X, Y, & Z.
Wait! Before you go tearing your whole life apart to make A your priority, take stock of where your focus currently lies. If, when given the choice between working on your business (your "priority") and spending time with friends, you always opt to spend time with friends -- Perhaps friendship should be your "priority". It'll come a lot easier, you'll save yourself the mental anguish of "failing to meet your goals". In fact, I suspect you'll be a lot happier for it.
4 comments:
I don't think it'd be that absolute, it should be a bit fluid. All the items on your priority list have a reason to be there - if some of those are not taken care of, that will make some other goals harder to achieve. Say for someone focusing on career, he should still deal with health & well being, as well as friends & family. That's the physical and emotional support for his primary goal. By contributing to X Y Z, it allows you to focus on A, until it gets to be a disruption. It's a game of balance but if the priorities are defined, there can be visible goals, you'll see the ingredients for that, and to which point the secondaries becomes a disruptive factor rather that contributive factor for the primaries.
One point very worthy you pointed out is your true primary priority may not be what you think. It takes some self-reviews to learn about ourselves. I guess most of us, at least the ones that have the desire to be better, are doing throughout our lives.
While my methodology may not necessarily make you happier as it's a very logical, analytical and perfectionist view, which is pretty painstaking sometimes, and that's me...
http://www.43folders.com/2009/04/28/priorities
That's where it came from.
I don't necessarily agree with all of what Mann has to say in this post, but that quote is a great reminder to me that sometimes my 16 "priorities" aren't really what I wish them to be...
Roy, you make some excellent points. Certainly, maintaining a full and healthy life will help you along your path towards your true goals.
Anonymous - Thanks for the link!
Yeah, I'm not sure I entirely agree with what he has to say either.
Perhaps that's because I often conflate goals and priorities?
Post a Comment