The more books I read, the more common themes I come across. One of them is Defining Your Priorities
What’s it for?
In Seth Godin’s altMBA, one of the fundamental question was “What’s it for?”
With every task that you do, every conversation you have, every project you start, he urges us the ask; “What’s it for?”
These four little words are extremely simplistic but are also asking for the world!
Bottleneck
In the “Thoery of Constraints” by Eliyahu M. Goldratt, we are coached on the Process of Ongoing Improvement. Guess what Step 1 is? Define the bottleneck. Define the one thing that is the biggest constraint in your life (or your manufacturing plant) that, if released, will cause the most substantial change. Stop worrying about the other crap, find the bottleneck and throw ALL your resources at it.
Most important task / High-Payoff Activity
Currently I’m reading “15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management“. Kevin Kruse asks us to define the the goal for the year / month / week. Then identify what the most important task would be to achieve that goal. Finally we must set aside time every day for it, put in it our calendar (preferably in the morning) and protect that time ferociously. Another term I have come across is “HPA or High Pay-off Activity” i.e. What is items in your job description gives the “Biggest Bang for your Buck?” Spend at least 80% of your time on your HPAs.
Priorities based on Opportunity Cost
Another way to look at it on a more big picture level.
What would be the most painful scenario, if you DIDN’T do it? What would cause the biggest regret in the future?
Try this. Pick an investment you could make (skill, knowledge, project you could develop). Anything! Now imagine two futures, five years from now. One where you did ‘the thing’ and one future where you didn’t do “the thing”. Which investments would cause the biggest regret five years from now if you DIDN’T do them?
Lets be honest, there are so many things I would want to develop in 5 years.
- My ability to influence people
- My self-confidence and ability to love / respect myself
- My ability to be organised and productive
- My ability to make good decisions
- My knowledge in business and psychology
- My investment portfolio!
Which of those priorities do you think I have been working on (not counting the last 6 months since completing the altMBA?) – you guessed it, none.
Life is a little too complex to simply pick one, but having clear defined priorities is extremely powerful. And its no easy task. Its the first and most crucial task of any improvement project.
What are you trying to improve? Why? It defines what all your future efforts will go into, so take a little time and keep reviewing.
Clarity of Thought and saying no
People pleasers or perfectionists (like myself) have a very hard time saying no. It goes against the grain of my being to say the simple words “I don’t have the time today, can I look at it tomorrow?” or “Person A would be better at tackling this task”. I want to help, and I want to be useful!
You know that email that John just sent? I NEED to reply to it. Now!
I know the answer, I’ll just quickly hit reply, attach the document, make a quick phone call, solve the problem.
1 hour later… I haven’t even started on MY priority but John’s To do list just got a little shorter. SMH.
You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage — pleasantly, smilingly, non-apologetically — to say ‘no’ to other things. And the way you do that is by having a bigger ‘yes’ burning inside. The enemy of the ‘best is often the ‘good.’
Stephen Covey.
These are the six focus areas of in life
Community
Surround myself with good people. People with values I want to foster. Make a list of the most significant people in myself and make an effort and spend more time with them
Continuous Learning
My career interest areas are in Business and Psychology. In these areas, I want to be smarter and wiser than I was yesterday. Read one book a month!
Creativity / Fun / Adventure!
I LOVE dance. Playing the piano. Watching movies! Reading novels! Playing board games with friends. I want to keep doing the things that bring an abundance of joy in my life.
Finance
Buy a property / land this year
Health
I’m doing OK here. Keep exercising 3-4 days a week and eat healthy. Prioritize sleep.
Altruism
This runs a bit deeper. Life in the end doesn’t have a lot of meaning does it? Sure, I can tick the checklist; Career, Husband, Kids, House, Travel, Meditation retreat in India. The list of accomplishments goes on and on. I will be exploring the world of “giving back” this year. See where that leads.
How to pick the one?
The key is not to simply pick one area of life, or one life goal. The one to pick is the common denominator that will benefit all of them. This will result in the most substantial life changing effects!
Ok, so my initial list can be culled down;
- My ability to influence people
- My self-confidence and ability to love / respect myself
- My ability to be organised and productive
- My ability to make good decisions
Ahhh this is giving me so much clarity.
Don’t get me wrong. I still have mini goals around all areas of my life. But these are the bigger more strategic areas of life. The ones where I have the MOST to lose if I don’t work on it. The one where I must throw all my resources at.
I have decided on two!
- Increasing my ability to love, respect myself and in turn increase my self-confidence.
- Become the most organised / reliable and productive version of myself
I chose these two because both will strengthen the foundation on which to build the others.
Ok. Done.
Next task is to break this down into most important tasks in order to achieve these.
For another post!
Adios! Love you all. Especially you, love you the most.