Let's reprioritize

[00:00:00] **Aurooba Ahmed:** Well, hello. This is The Daily Five with Aurooba, that's me, where we reflect on creating our best lives a little bit every day. Here we go.

[00:00:15] So it's about that time in the season where we need to talk about failure just a little bit. We're approaching the halfway mark of the season, with this being episode 42. There might be a goal or two you've given up on, or even some you never really got going on. All those good intentions at the start of the year, but here you are, about halfway through February, swept away in the everyday stuff that is always too urgent and maybe even important.

[00:00:43] So urgent and important enough that the good intentions you started with at the beginning of the year or even the good intentions you set for yourself every weekend as you face a new week get brushed aside so you can deal with the present realities.

[00:00:56] Which brings me to the idea of priorities. Well, it also brings me to the idea of values, but we're going to focus on priorities today.

[00:01:05] So let me ask you this. Can you have multiple priorities? Is that feasible? Has it been feasible? Perhaps not. Perhaps that's why you failed, because you had too many priorities. And if there are too many priorities, then the concept of a priority sort of loses its meaning, doesn't it? Ponder it a bit, and you'll see what I mean.

[00:01:28] So, here's what we're going to do. We're going to limit ourselves to two priorities per area of life, and we can only have priorities in three areas of life. That's it. Now, it should just be one priority at a time, or one priority per area of life, but going from multiple priorities to one priority might give us a metaphorical heart attack, so we'll go easy on ourselves.

[00:01:52] There's one top priority, and if that area feels handled on any given day, you can focus on that second priority, yeah? And only in three areas of life. There are many areas of life. In that Wheel of Life exercise I described in the trailer of this season, I talked about ten different areas of life. Well, we can't make it all better. Not all at once, anyway. So let's just focus on three. For example, work, health, and marriage.

[00:02:20] So make yourself a small chart, maybe it's on a sticky note, and divide it into 3 sections, label each section with an area of life you've chosen, and give yourself the 2 priorities you have in those areas, in order of importance in each.

[00:02:34] Now, when things come up, you look at your sticky note. First off, is this an area of life that is a priority? Yes? Okay. Does this situation fit into priority number one for this area of life? Yes? Excellent. Focus hard. Go above and beyond. Do your best. No? Do what's required and move on. Now, some of you might have had a clenching feeling when I said that.

[00:02:58] I mean, I'm the one who said it, and I have that feeling too, and I instantly want to back away. Like, no, do the required and move on? No, I can't do that. But, Here's the thing, you can't give your all in all possible areas of life at all possible times. It's just not possible, and it is in fact okay to just do what's required, do it well, and then move on instead of doing it in the very, very best possible way and constantly go above and beyond and find all the ways that you could have done it and, I don't know, whatever else you might want to do.

[00:03:32] This is not permission to skate by, by the way, or to only do the minimum. This is permission to choose to put the greatest part of your energy towards the things that matter most to you. Because we deserve to be able to put energy towards the things that matter most to us. So, this is not just a reminder for you, it's also a reminder for myself.

[00:03:54] Because, frankly, I'm struggling with it too. So, uh, if there's one thing I want to say in this episode, it is let's prioritize and then put our energy towards the things that we prioritize. Yes, you know, every day life is going to happen. Every day things are going to come up. Every day there's going to be issues and other stuff that is going to keep on going, like a river.

[00:04:22] You have to find a way to prioritize and put some time aside, some energy aside, for these things that you've said are important to you. And maybe the only way to do that is to limit what those things are. Because if you try to put your energy wholeheartedly and in a full way on everything, that's just not gonna work.

[00:04:42] So, prioritize, friends. It might just help us.

[00:04:54] Thanks for listening. Same time tomorrow?