Setting your priorities, what does it all mean? (Part 2 of 2)
Setting priorities may not be everyone’s top priority (liking the pun here 😊), but it is a necessity if you want to reach, stay and keep on track of the goals you have set for yourself in your life. Not an easy list to make if you are confused about where you want to be in your life right now, or in the near future. But with perseverance and some helpful tips listed below, I believe anyone can get there, if they just try hard enough!
Give yourself a break and room to breathe. Relax and make your ideas come to life by following these next six steps of setting your priorities. What does it all mean?
Be Mindful and take the time to reflect on your plan.
This means setting aside some time where you shut off your phone, put away your tablet and computer and grab some good old-fashioned pen and paper and tell yourself that, even though you have a million things going on, this is a priority. Analyze your life and figure out what kind of changes you need to make. If you feel like you have no time to do this, then honestly, that's even more of a reason for you to reflect. Be in the present moment and be mindful of all your thoughts and jot down whatever comes to your mind first!
2. Be honest with yourself.
You have to check those priorities with reality. Keep track of how much time you truly spend on things each week, or up to a month. Be honest. Finally, compare the reality of your time with your ideal priorities. Are you giving proper time to what matters most to you? If not, why not?
What can you do to make your true priorities number one in your life? Make appropriate changes so your reality matches what really matters most to you.Sometimes you just need to get hit with a healthy dose of reality to realize what you truly need. While you don't want to place a lot of pressure on yourself, you do need to be honest with yourself to figure out what's most important, and what needs to come first on your list.The rest should fall into place when you are honest with yourself.
3. Take baby steps.
If you start to feel overwhelmed with your priorities, take a step back and remember to breathe. You don't need to be Wonder Human to set your priorities straight. The only person you need to make happy is yourself, and the more you realize that, the better you may feel. Remember that we can’t do everything, all the time, but we can make a committed effort in baby steps and build on them from there.
4. Remember your priorities can change, so don’t sweat it.
As you get older, your priorities will most likely change. But don't think of it as a terrible thing. Consider the fact that over time you will mature, and you will need to just re-prioritize what's most important to you. Our circumstances may change, as life around us happens, so some priorities will be ones that we focus on over the long term and other priorities will be focused on what’s happening right now.
Because your own priorities can change (when you realize this is happening) now is the time that you should focus on making two lists. One, the main/active areas of your life, and two, areas of your life that don’t need as much attention at this time. Spend some time to go over each area of your life and write out any ideas or priorities that will be helpful to incorporate into your life now or in the near future.
5. Check-In regularly with yourself and re-adjust if necessary.
After you figure out what your priorities are, check in with yourself to make sure you stay focused and conquer them.Check in often and ask yourself if your priorities are still serving you? Are you holding yourself accountable to living your life on your own terms or someone else’s?
Don't get frustrated if you need some time to figure out what your priorities are so you can set them straight. Be kind to yourself and remember that it's completely normal for your priorities to change over time. Eventually, with a little bit of patience and perseverance you can figure out what's most important to you and take charge of your life.
And finally, the last step, but certainly not the least to help you prioritize is this:
6. Relax, Breathe and Carry on.
Have you ever tried to relax but realized that the harder you try, the more difficult it is to loosen up? But the moment you stop trying, you find yourself instantly, well, more relaxed! Why is this so? To stay relaxed, self-awareness is important. Without being mindful of your current state of mind, it is easy to tip the balance and fall into mental dullness on one end or agitation of the mind at the other extreme. With self-awareness, you will be able to detect when you are holding on to stuff you don’t need to be holding on to, thus making it easier to perform at your best, and think about all your priorities with a relaxed mind.
Our society is stressed out enough, relaxation is becoming less and less achievable in our busy lives. So, step back just a little and re-think your ideas. Are they achievable? Are they realistic? Take a deep Breath, take a day or two off and come back to revisit your list. Carry on to the best of your abilities and reach those goals.
Before you know it, prioritizing your life just got a whole lot easier! What are you waiting for? Start today! It is the first day to start with your number one priority, and that is YOU!
