What specifically comes to mind when you think about priorities and how you’d like to live your life? Do you see yourself travelling around the world, writing a book or creating a company of your own? However, how you set your priorities will most probably decide how you choose to live your life.
It’s crucial to know what’s most meaningful to you when you choose to make improvements to your life. Often though, when you’re still in the fast lane, it can be challenging to sort this out, and you begin to lose concentration on what you initially wanted in the first place.
These days, everyone lives such busy lives, and it makes it difficult to do everything on our to-do list. It’s vital to ask yourself the ‘why’ behind everything you do to ensure you’re able to concentrate on your goals. As soon as you have a better understanding of why something is crucial to you, it makes it a lot easier to follow through when getting the job done.
If you discover the ‘why’ you will also find that your goals will also change,’ says licensed life coach Sharon Stokes. So how are you going to figure out what is most important so that you can set your goals straight? Well, it starts with you.
You’ve got to devote yourself to making time. You can distort your view around what is most important to you by getting wrapped up in the details of life. Life coach & Thumbtack specialist Lisa Kincaid says, even taking brief periods to breathe, relax, process and prepare will help you minimize the confusion and see more vividly what you might have been missing before.
Here are 13 ways you can find out how you want to take care of your life by setting your priorities right if you’re going to get a better picture where you’d like your life to lead.
Find out what is important to you
You ought to carefully consider what they are before you can set your priorities. When you have no clue what your objectives are, how do you expect to kill it in the business? You have very little time and energy, so at any particular moment, you have to decide what your two biggest priorities are.
For example, one of your goals may be to find a new job, and the other may be searching for a new house. Both of these are quite heavy tasks demanding clear focus, so my advice in this situation is first to find a job. Once you land it, you can narrow down your search for your apartment to somewhere close to your place of work, says career expert for Monster Vicki Salemi
Develop an action plan
It’s time to bring your ideas into reality. Take a few minutes to build a roadmap of where you’d like to see yourself in the next few months or years. Match those dreams with your goals to help you concentrate on making your desires materialize.
Write down what you’re searching for in a new job; get detailed in terms of salary, location and the kind of role as well as what your strong points are what you’d like to know upon in the next 12 months. Then develop an action plan that includes setting up job alerts, updating your cc, connecting with two individuals every week, and more.
Determine how you would like to live your life
Taking into consideration how you want to live your life is another perfect way to set your priorities right. If you only wish to work a certain number of hours per week, but your current job prohibits you from doing so, then getting a new job can take priority on your to-do list. It is crucial to set your priorities right so that you live a life of purpose and fulfilment that feels good for you. You are more in line with your intentions and what you really want out of life when you set your priorities right and know what is important to you.
Appoint a time slot for a specific task
Occasionally, setting aside a precise moment is all it takes. “You may notice that you can get a lot done within a couple of minutes once you assign an actual time for an activity on your calendar,” says Salemi. It is worth remembering to make time for things that really matter to you. Watch an episode of your favourite movie with your friends or get drinks. Whatever it may be, you will not feel fulfilled if you keep putting other things before your happiness.
Discuss with a mentor
Speaking to a mentor will open your eyes to concerns you may not have seen before. They can help you in seeing things from a new angle and encourage you to concentrate on what needs to be preeminent in your life. Converse with a mentor as well as friends if you are not sure of what is relevant to you.
They may not only be able to assist you in terms of practicality but also detect the concern and sentimentality in your voice. If you continuously whine about your job and fear of going to the office each day, they will immediately understand that you should put that at the top of your priority list.
Map out your everyday routines
Have you felt so motivated to make an adjustment in your life, but have you crawled back to your old habits in just a couple of days? Prevent this by planning out what you’ll do every day to stay motivated and focused. Also, calculate the time required for each task and map out what you can do to stay on track every day. For example, it could be talking to a financial adviser to reinvest your money or setting up meetings to enforce what they advise.
Take a moment to reflect
This means setting aside time where you shut down your phone, putting pen to paper, and telling yourself that this is a priority, even though you have a million stuff going on. For example, you work in a horrible environment, and in two years, you have not gotten a promotion, looking for a job is the top priority. Analyze your life and find out what kind of improvements you have to make. If you feel like you don’t have time to do so, then frankly, it’s more of a justification to think about it.
Eliminate distraction
If you’d like to set your priorities right, you have to get rid of the distractions. It’s time to concentrate on improving your life and leaving the confusion at the door. Turn off the Television and toss your phone across the room. Take a moment to set your priorities right on your calendar, and also begin to eliminate diversions. Access social media frequently is kind of distractions that take up more time and create more interruptions than we realize. Start calling yourself on things like that so that you can clear the clutter.
Be open with yourself
You have to validate those priorities with fact. Keep count of how much time you really invest on things every week for at least a week or perhaps two. Be sincere! Ultimately, compare the actuality of your time with your ideal objectives. Are you giving you the right time to what counts most to you? If not, why?
What can you do in your life that makes your priority number one? Make necessary adjustments so that what matters most to you. Sometimes to know what you really need, you have to get hit with a good dose of truth. Although you do not want to put too much pressure on yourself to find out what’s most important, you do have to be honest with yourself.
Take action in small measures
Pause for a moment and try to breathe if you start to feel stressed with your goals. You do not have to be a superhuman to set your priorities right. You’re the only person you have to make happy, and the more you understand it, the better you’ll feel. “Note that we can’t do everything, all of the time, but we can take dedicated action in small steps and develop on them from there,” Kincaid says.
Recall that it’s natural to adjust your priorities
Your interests will most definitely change as you grow older. Don’t think of it as a bad idea, nevertheless. Remember the fact that you grow over time and you have to re-prioritize what is most relevant.
“First, we must have awareness around the idea that our goals will modify as our lives and situation changes. A few priorities will be ones that we concentrate on over the long term, and other priorities will be focused on what’s currently happening now,” says Kincaid.
I recommend setting up two lists with this in mind:
- One of the lists should focus on your life’s main/active areas
- The second should concentrate on those that at this time, don’t need as much focus.
Spend a bit of time going over each aspect of life and writing out any ideas or thoughts that will be useful to implement into your life now or in the future.
Constantly check-in with yourself
Check-in with yourself after finding out what your objectives are, and ensure that you remain focused and achieve them. Arrange a coffee date for yourself and note it in your calendar so that you do not forget. Keep an eye on yourself, often! Ask if your priorities are still helping you? Are you finding yourself responsible for living your life on your terms?” Kincaid says.
Don’t get upset if you require some time to find out what your goals are so that you can set them right. Be kind to yourself and note that adjusting your goals over time is absolutely natural. Eventually, you can find out what’s most relevant with a little bit of patience and take care of your life.
