Priorities

It’s a new year. Then new year brings this sense of a fresh start. Who doesn’t love a fresh start?

I’m a little early to the new year resolutions as I really made 2019 a year of personal growth. It began with an long, overdue overhaul to my health. Through that journey I gained a lot of clarity to the idea of living intentionally. I was spending a lot of time doing personal development and creating new habits to replace old ones. I even started going to see a counselor to work through some of my old past issues that needed healing.

Here’s what began to become a theme though. There are a lot of voices out there. And ultimately you can spend a lot of money and time doing the things that other people think you should be doing to become the best you. And don’t get me wrong here, I’ve learned some really incredible habits that I’ll probably continue using.

The best thing that I’m taking away from that journey is this. At the center of all the personal development messages there is a core message. Nail down your core priorities, and honor them with your schedule and decisions.

I’ll tell you a little bit of what that looks like for me. And like I said, I don’t want to add to the noise out there, so take from this message what serves you and leave the rest, deal?

I decided on three areas that matter the most to me regardless of any other circumstances. My top three priorities are loving God, my marriage/family & loving others.

Those three things are what I want to spend my days, hours and minutes focusing on. I reflect back to the verse about being faithful in small things so that ultimately you will be faithful in bigger things. These are my small responsibilities to steward daily and I know that God is pleased in my making them a priority.

I then go on further to create three tangible tasks in each are that I can measure against. So for example my first priority is loving God. In this season that looks like these three things; taking care of my physical body with exercise and good nutrition, praying, reading my bible & meditating early in the morning & using my gift of writing for 30-1 hour each day.

Your three core priorities most likely will not change from season to season (unless you change from single to married or start a family etc), however your three activities may be highly variable and should be re-evaluated often.

Having those things nailed down and listed out as a reminder to look at and reflect on at the end of each day have helped me filter out the noise around me. It also helps me battle that feeling that I didn’t do enough at the end of the day. It is an intentional way to live in a way that honors my priorities and I hope that it will be helpful to you as you set out to make 2020 your year.