Now that you’ve reflected on life using the Wheel of Life and made a list of SMART PATH goals, it’s time to set priorities. As impressive as it would be to tackle every problem in your life simultaneously, it’s unrealistic. Not only would it be a whole lot of work, your focus would be everywhere at once!
What do you value most?
Are any of these values at the top of your list?
Time with family
Forging ahead with your career
Serving your community
Love
Adventure
Creating a cozy home
Being healthy
Creating a life that works
Everyone’s values are unique, and I can’t tell you what you should value most—it’s up to you! But asking yourself the question and finding out what you value most in life is important. It gives you a clearer focus, and knowing what you value means you can structure your life to match it.
How do your values show up in your Wheel of Life? Are you allocating your time and energy in a way that matches your values? What are YOUR priorities?
If you took the time to review your life last week, you’ll likely have at least one area of your life that you’d like to make some changes. So let’s set some goals. Common New Year’s resolutions include:
Exercise more
Save money
Eat healthy
Get organized (Call us if you’re having trouble with this one!)
Get more sleep
Quit social media
Reduce waste
Spend more time with family and friends
Reduce stress
Keep a journal
What are your resolutions this year? Write them down and refer to them often; you’ll be more likely to achieve them.
The holidays are upon us! And with that comes the new year, and with the new year comes — you guessed it — resolutions! While goal-setting is an important part of life all year round, the approach of the new year reminds us to reflect on our life, and where we want to be.
What goals do you have for yourself? What’s the best way to accomplish those goals? It’s simple (if not easy): assess your life as it is, focus on the path toward the goal instead of the goal itself, and don’t try to do everything at once.
December is the perfect time to assess your life and your priorities. Use the Wheel to Life to review what you are thankful for. Honestly look at what you would like to be different in the future.
We all have fluctuating levels of energy throughout the day. Maybe you’re more of a morning person, or maybe you’re more of a night owl. Armed with the proper information, you can maximize your most effective times to work, and rest when you need to. Read on to learn about managing energy.
What affects your energy?
Circadian rhythm: the natural process that regulates your sleep-wake cycle. It repeats every 24 hours in most animals, as well as plants, and even some fungi.
Circadian rhythms aren’t set in stone! If you commit to having a regular bedtime and a regular wake time, your body will become accustomed, and you’ll get better sleep and start the day off right. If you can’t seem to get on track, talk with your doctor about possible sleep disorders.
Ultradian rhythm: subsets of circadian rhythms that occur multiple times a day, lasting usually between 90-120 minutes. Just like circadian rhythms tell your body when it’s time to sleep and time to wake up, ultradian rhythms tell your body when it’s in work mode and when it’s in rest mode.
I wrote last week about deciding what your priorities are. Once you know your priorities—things you really want to make the time for—schedule them based on order of importance. Here are some tips about how to schedule tasks.
Fill the jar
I use the “fill the jar” metaphor when discussing how to schedule tasks. Imagine you have a jar, and your job is to fill it as full as possible. You have rocks, pebbles, and sand, to pack into it. What’s the best way to maximize space in the jar?
If you start by adding sand and pebbles first, the rocks will sit on top. The jar will look full, but there will be a lot of unused space between the large rocks. That’s wasted space. But if you start by adding rocks first, then pebbles, you can shake the jar and the pebbles will fill in spaces between the rocks. Sand does the same, sifting into the even smaller areas between pebbles. You can even add water on top of everything, and you’ll have a genuinely full jar.
The most crucial tasks in your life are the rocks. Things like making sure you’re healthy, and that you spend time with loved ones, can be rocks. Exercise, your daughter’s birthday party, and keeping in touch with your grandmother can all be rocks. Schedule these things first, because they are what makes a life whole.
Pebbles are still very important, but not as crucial. Although it might not fulfill you as a person, household chores need to get done, and you should probably get to work on time. Schedule these things next.
What do I mean when I say “time management?” Time is impossible to manage! It just keeps on ticking no matter what we do. When I talk about organizing your time, I’m really talking about priorities. You can’t manage time, but you can certainly manage what you DO with your time.
YOU get to choose what you do each day (within reason), and that means you have some decisions to make! But what do you spend your time on?
Finding your Priorities
If you don’t take a moment and take stock of how you spend your time, it’s easy to fall into a routine that includes lots of wasted time. Keep a quick diary of what you do for a normal week (what you REALLY do, not what you think you should do), and at the end of the week look at how you’ve spent your time. Was there anything you wanted to do but couldn’t get to? What could you cut out of next week to give you the space for important activities?
