How many times have you walked past that really stunning dress/shoe/bag just sitting there in the window and you pause in your steps, take those few steps back and stare at it again, feeling like it was made just for you – thinking how perfect you’ll look in it and if the manufacturer had been in your mind somehow to know just exactly what you wanted?… Then you can’t help it, you walk straight in and buy it throwing off your monthly budget and financial plan. Or those times when you try to do something constructive but find yourself straying off into your social media accounts and before you know it you’ve scrolled hours away! or still, those times when you completely ditch your own plans because some friends came up with a ‘more brilliant’ one and you just couldn’t resist! I know! I know because I’ve done these more times than I’d like to admit and totally regret it later! Reasons why today I’d like to write about prioritizing. I think many people have problems with not only setting priorities but also with following them. If you’re like me and you sometimes struggle with putting your priorities in order, I hope these few tips I share with you today will be of help to you.
Understand Priority and Purpose
You can’t set your priorities straight if you don’t know what to prioritize in the first place. I believe putting your priorities in the right order has everything to do with purpose. When you discover purpose, everthing else will align and fall in place in accordance with it. Prioritizing will become much easier because anything that wouldn’t align to or aid your purpose will definitely not come on the the top of the list. So if you haven’t found it yet, you should get on it and don’t stop until you do! There are different things you could do to find your purpose such as reading and researching a lot about purpose or trying out different things (I’ll write another article on more of this).
Don’t Make Decisions on a Whim: Be Deliberate and Intentional
I have a friend who loves re-iterating the word ‘SELAH’ we find at the end of many verses in the book of Psalms. ‘SELAH’ literally means ‘PAUSE AND THINK’. Most times if not all the time, we need to pause and think before we make any decisions. When you make decisions instantaneously there’s a high probability to go off your priorities. Pause and think about it, and always put purpose at the centre when you’re making decisions. Be intentional about every decision. Think about the consequences and rewards that’ll result from each option then you can make the best decision for yourself and everyone involved.
Learn How to Differentiate between “Wants” and “Needs“
Sometimes we do or get stuff not because they’re really necessary or needed but just because we feel like it. While there’s nothing wrong with giving yourself s treat and just doing stuff you like doing even when they’re not necessary… it is wise to know when to indulge in such “unnecessary” desires. If you always do what you desire or “feel like” doing then you’ll not be doing yourself much of a favor. For example, it won’t be a very wise thing for me to do by reading books (even educational books) all day when I have deadlines to meet at work/school. Though it is a good thing to read it won’t be very helpful anymore when it’s not done at the right time
You should do what you need to do first before what you want to do.
I hope these tips were helpful to you.
I’d love to hear from you! Let us know in the comments what things you do to help you set your priorities right and keep to them.