Time to Power-Up Your Priorities?

JT - “The key is not to prioritise what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” – Stephen Covey-2

Recently I have been talking about priorities a bit as I have also been focusing and paying attention to my own. Priorities have been a big adventure for me and although I still struggle a bit with expressing my needs, I am a lot further along than when I started when I didn’t know that I had them and had what felt like a Phd in abandoning myself

So today, I just wanted to introduce priorities and share a beautiful reminder about them.

What Are Priorities? 

There are many different definitions of priorities and they include – 

  • Doing “first things first”,
  • “something that is very important and must be dealt with before other things” ~ Cambridge Dictionary,
  • “… a thing or situation that is more important than others.”, and
  • “the right to one’s attention before other things considered less important” ~ Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

And of course, you can also research your own definition to identify what they mean to you? 

A Great Reminder on Priorities –

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day doesn’t seem enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and coffee story.

“A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else.

He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous “yes.”

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand.

The students laughed.

“Now,” said the professor, as the laughter subsided, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things – family, children, health, friends, God and/or spirituality and favourite passions – things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, house, and car. The sand is everything else – the small stuff.

“If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued, “there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

So… Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness:

  • Play with your children.
  • Take your partner out to dinner.
  • Play another 18.
  • There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal.

“Take care of the golf balls first – the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.”

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented.

The professor smiled. “I’m glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.”” – Unknown

Over to You…

I hope this has given you some insight in to priorities. If you are interested in Powering-Up Your Priorities, you are invited to join me in a 5-Day Adventure on Aligning to Your Priorities.

Remember – life is an adventure and we are here to grow and evolve. So be kind to yourself.

If you are ready to reclaim your courage and take thenext step towards freedom and opening your heartwhy not join our Toolkit?

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