Sunday, January 24, 2010

First Things First

I was reminded the other day how important it is to make sure your priorities are:
  1. in the right order
  2. really your priorities
Seems simple and clear enough, but surprisingly, people often have priorities which don't actually fall into these two categories.

People often approach their goals/priorities from a very logical perspective; analyzing each and arranging them into a list in order of priority.  It's all very neat and organized and makes perfect sense.  Great! Only problem is, they don't feel like doing the first thing on the list. They know they should, they know it's something they want to accomplish, yet they can't seem to get going on it and don't really understand why.

The reason is quite simple.  It' not logic that drives our behaviour and our actions; it's emotion.  So while we think we should do A before we do B, the reality is B is more important to us at an emotional level; and therefore, it's really the priority and should be done first.

I have goals I'm working on, some are big, some not so big.  Each are important to me for various reasons and in varying degrees.  The irony is, the one I had deemed 'most important', ("A") from a logical, rational perspective, turned out not to be as important as the one I thought was my 2nd most important ("B").  Now, while doing "A" first would make it a lot easier to focus on "B", the reality is achieving "B" first will make me a lot happier.  When I'm happy, I am able to focus, to make decisions, and to feel confident in the choices I make and to move forward.  So while "A" is logically the most important, "B" has the emotional connection to it that will motivate and move me into action; in short, I'm more passionate about achieving "B".  Therefore, it makes sense to switch my priorities, making "B" my new "A" and using the energy it gives me to help me achieve both goals.

Remember too, goals need to be self-directed.  In other words, you have to want them for yourself, not because it will make someone else in your life happy...it has to make YOU happy.   It's your emotional connection to the goal which will move you towards achieving your goal; if you don't feel it, it makes it difficult to get or maintain the movitation needed to achieve it.

So, when it comes to priorities and goals, you need to make sure you really are putting first things first. Which goal are you most passionate about? Which is going to inspire you, motivate you? The one that excites you the most is your priority, so make sure it's your 1st priority; even if it doesn't make logical sense.  Follow your passion, it's the source of your creativity, inspiration, motivation and the path to your success.

No comments: