Season of Lists Includes Priority Lists
We are in the season of lists. Santa is looking at his naughty and his nice lists. Many are working on their New Year’s resolution list. Others are making their way through their long gift lists.
One of the lists we should be considering is what we want to be involved in and what we need to remove from our schedule as we start the new year.
I’m the first one to say we need to be involved. We need to join groups. We need volunteers at events. We need to follow our passions.
But while speaking recently to current members of the Southwest Nebraska Leadership Institute, I had to be honest when someone asked about burnout from having too many things on your to-do list.
I offered up a piece of advice given by a friend before he moved away from McCook: When considering taking on something new or agreeing to add something to your calendar, ask yourself this: Is it a “heck ya?” If not, then it’s a “heck no.”
That is kind of rude to tell someone “heck no” when they ask for help or for you to be involved, so a simple “no” or “I need to think about that and get back to you” is probably a better reply in the moment.
Another friend - I like to surround myself with smart, deep-thinking people to do the work for me - provided an article about setting priorities and how to do it.
Ultimately, we have a limited amount of resources and time during this life. And I’m the first to admit that I suffer from FOMO - Fear of Missing Out - so I jump at doing anything and everything. Hence, why my friend sent me the article to help set priorities.
The first step is to realize you need priorities to determine where you want to spend your time and this requires time to reflect. It is tempting to prioritize everything which unfortunately just leads to no priorities.
To help set your priority list, there are three simple steps along with a questions to ask yourself:
- Realize I can’t do everything. What is important to me?
- Focus on areas where I can do the most good. When will my effort be best spent?
- List possible actions I can take that will make a difference. What can I do?
It goes back to finding your passion and making an impact in that area. This can apply to your business, your career, your personal life and each situation is unique.
This doesn’t mean that you can’t help a friend move furniture to their new house. In fact, it may fit right in because that friendship is important so moving a chair becomes a priority.
You don’t get to quit your job because it’s not very important to you. If it is paying your bills then it should probably stay a priority.
But maybe you leave one organization so you can focus on another which hasn’t been getting as much attention lately.
So as the year comes to a close and you find your Christmas gift list is marked off, maybe a priority is to set a priority list for the upcoming year.
Where do you want to make an impact in the community? Where can you become engaged in a project to make a difference? What needs to be dropped from your schedule so you can better focus on those other priorities?
By focusing on what’s important, our effort can make a bigger difference and may be more meaningful. By setting our priorities, we can all make our communities even better places to call home.
