How do YOU prioritize your life, ?
Most of us have more on our plates than we can possibly get to.
It’s up to each of us decide which thing are essential and important, and which things we can say goodbye to or save for later.
So how do know what to prioritize?
Put first things first.
What do you value the most in your life?
What is most important to you?
Faith. Relationships and Family. Your passions and talents. Taking care of your body, mind, and spirit.
You’ve got to make anything to do with those core values non-negotiable.
No busy work, meetings or extra shifts, frivolous activities, or time spent on social media or playing games should come before any of those things.
Good, better, or best.
Dallin H. Oaks gave a talk a few years ago where he shared a principle that has helped me when it comes to deciding what to prioritize.
He explains that sometimes the greatest challenge we face isn’t deciding between good and bad things, but instead deciding between several good things.
In that case, we need to use the benchmarks of good, better, and best.
“The number of good things we can do far exceeds the time available to accomplish them. Some things are better than good, and these are the things that should command priority attention in our lives.”
Dallin H. Oaks, “Good, Better, Best”.
For example, it is good to like and comment on a friends’ instagram post.
But, it’s even better to give them a call to see how they’re doing.
And I would argue that it’s best to schedule a time to go to lunch and catch up face to face.
It’s good to eat Chick-Fil-A. I love me some Chick-Fil-A.
But sometimes it’s best to resist the irresistible smell of those heavenly chicken nuggs, drive yourself to the grocery store, and buy ingredients to make a homemade meal from scratch.
I’ve learned to use this when it comes to working on my own music.
It’s good to read an article or watch a video about how to write better songs.
It’s even better to listen to music that inspires me and dream about writing my own similar songs.
But it’s BEST to pick up my guitar or sit down at the piano and spend my time actually trying to write a song.
Do you get where I’m going with this?
Every day we have a BAJILLION choices in front of us and we have to decide whether something is just good, whether there is something better we could be doing instead, and what the very best decision would be.
And then follow through with it!
You might find that making daily choices become simpler as you ask yourself, “Is this good, better, or best?”
Like this post? You might enjoy Part I and Part II of my Finding Balance series!