Practice of priorities
Riddle: 12 frogs sat on a log, 3 decided to jump off, how many frogs are left on the log?
Answer: I don’t know – deciding to jump off the log doesn’t mean much — deciding is not the same as actually jumping.
Priorities define our lives. Whether the priorities are spoken, unspoken, intentional, unintended or just happenstance – they still define us.
3 stages of priorities:
1. I believe it is a priority – internally I believe that it is important to do.
2. I talk about it being a priority – I am willing to state out loud that x, y or z is important for this or that reason.
3. The practice of priority – this is the stage where the action is taken. This is where the frog jumps off the log.
When dealing in the practice of priorities, one must be willing to realize that trade-offs must happen. No matter how much you want to believe you can have it “all” – you can not. You have a limited amount of energy and time no matter how disciplined you are.
So what in your life do you need to be willing to trade off/give up for the sake of practicing a priority? For me, right now, I have to read, pray and journal prior to checking emails and starting the work I have before me each day. I have to put off the urgent for the sake of what is critical. I have to trade off the thinking of – if I start earlier I will get so much more done, then I can do the priority later on today. It rarely ever happens.
The big rocks go in first. Always. If not, there is no room for them.
What in your life do you need to make a priority of practice?
What do you need to trade off in your life? What do you need to give up so that you not just believing X is a priority, but it is actually showing up in your practices?
Godspeed in your journey,
Kevin A. Parido
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Credit: language of trade-offs and such comes from Greg McKeown’s book Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
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