21 Jan How to prioritize what matters most!
In today’s society we often feel pressured to do it all and to be a good at everything. To be a good parent, spouse, child, worker, boss etc., all while putting ourselves first. Well, the truth is that the pressure to perform to the best of our ability in every area of our life can feel extremely overwhelming and can often be detrimental to our mental health by creating anxiety, nervousness or in some cases depression. Today we want to talk about prioritization. Learning to prioritize what matters most in life is a great way to alleviate daily stressors and make day to day life a little easier.
Step one is learning how to prioritize is to find out what truly matters to you. What is the value that task is bringing to your life and what category does it fall in. For example, one way to help you define this value is to think of your life in 5 categories: work time, personal time, health time, family time and relationship time. Then under each of these category list your 5 top priorities in order of their importance (2). Once this task is completed take a breath and review what you have written, is this where you are spending that majority of your time? If not, something needs to give so that you are investing your time in things that matter most to you.
Steph two is reworking your time, or in a sense learning how to spend more time doing the things that matter most to you this practice will also help you feel less “busy” on a daily basis. One way to do this is by learning to say “no”, no to yourself and no to others while creating boundaries. Don’t feel bad about saying no instead think about what you gained by saying no and reallocating that time to something that holds more value in your life. Another technique to help rework your time is to think forward with intention. What do you intend to do with your time during each task or when reviewing your values what in comparison to how you’re spending your time do the intentions align? Lastly try time blocking for your personal life not just in business, setting aside time and creating a schedule for yourself personally can be a great way to create good habits.
Step three learning the difference between urgent and important. As Lifehack.com and Trackinghappiness.comsay, try using the Eisenhower Matrix method to help with this. In theory this method works as follows: Urgent tasks are those that require your immediate attention such as answering emails, texts, and phone calls. Important tasks are those that affect your long-term values, goals, and mission. Using this method, you complete urgent tasks first, then figure out how you’ll complete the important ones. Keeping in mind you can also delegate important tasks and eliminate the tasks that are neither important nor urgent.
Lastly, have you ever read the book Eat that Frog? If so, then you already know what I am about to go with this but for those of you that don’t… try organizing your day in a format that allows you to tackle your biggest challenge of the day first (eating the frog). Usually, your biggest challenge is the most important and knocking this out first thing sets your day up for success.
Always remember you are one person, and no one can do it all. Remember to breath and be kind to yourself. You are in control of your life but there will always be unexpected and unplanned things that try to derail your day. Stay close to your values and continue to prioritize what matters most to you in life.
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