Have you ordered your priorities? Are you allegiant to them? Are you working them out like a runner training for a marathon?
The answers for the above will tell you a lot about how bright or dim your light is in your area of influence (God, family, friends, work, health, etc.). Penelope Trunk has a great post on the subject of one woman’s priorities. Sallie Krawcheck is an executive at Citigroup and sheds some telling light on her choices (good or bad).
So is family your number one priority (defined as the thing/engagement you pay most attention to)? If it is, how much of your calendar, thoughts and practice do they get of you? If the answer leaves you embarrassed, family really isn’t what you tell yourself it is. I don’t write this post to throw judgment at you. I just want you to wake up before you find you have no more time. Often the violence of tough questions creates an opportunity for a change/learning.
The following will give you some help on staying aligned with your priorities:
- Stop what you’re doing and decide. What’s number one, number two, etc.
- After the decisions (don’t make these in a NY minute…think them through) be subject to the priorities.
- Seek a great life, which is made up of many ingredients. Don’t fall into the trap of worshiping your career when it is only an ingredient.
- Remember life is a motion picture unfolding before your eyes. Don’t be aimless.
- If you’re thinking that money, position, power and prestige say anything about your worth, stop. Steve Jobs was fired from Apple almost two decades ago. He was one of the founders and even he was considered dispensable.