When I was a child, I remember wandering into the home office of an adult I knew well, and finding a list of priorities taped to the wall. They were numbered, with the top priorities up high and lesser ones on the bottom.
I remember thinking, “That’s weird. Why would someone need reminding about what’s important to them?”
And then I went away and forgot about the list, until one day as adult I saw it again. This time, I thought, “That’s the most helpful list I’ve ever seen.”
Priorities are something we carry with us in our hearts. We know that they are important to us. We know that our love for our families, careers and homes isn’t going to disappear. But that’s just the point. We carry our priorities in our hearts, not in our heads. We keep them deep in our consciousness, not in the forefront of our thoughts. We know them, but we don’t always think about them.
Making a priority list serves two purposes:
1. It forces you to put your priorities in order.
Oh boy, is this hard. Because everything feels important, doesn’t it? But if you take a step back and consider your heart’s desires or life’s ambitions, you might find your list begins to organize itself. Is God and spirituality high on your list? What about self-care? Does having a clean house really matter to you, or do you just clean because it’s expected? You may surprise yourself; things that you think are important to you may turn out to be less so, and vice versa.
2. It gives you a reference for time management, energy management, and all sorts of planning.
The next time you decide to take a big-picture view of your life, you might find that while you’ve listed work as #4 on your list, the amount of time and energy you pour into it makes it a solid #1. While you may not be able to change that (or want to change it: after all, working also means supporting your family, which might be #1 or 2 on the list) it might put things in perspective for you. If you can’t downsize your office hours, can you optimize your family hours? Can you be more engaged while you are with them? Plan more meaningful outings? Play more games, have more fun?
I’m going to make my own priority list this weekend. Who’s with me? What do you think it will reveal about our lives?