What Are Your Real Priorities?

By Stephanie LH Calahan

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So many people, when they think of clutter, think of piles of stuff laying all over the place, but we can clutter up our schedules and life choices too.

As you are determining your goals, start with identifying your priorities. If your goals are not aligned with the things that are truly important to you, then, what is the point? I realize that sounds simplistic, but for many it is an exercise that really helps.

1. Start by putting a blank sheet of paper and something to write with in front of you.

2. Write out a listing of all of the areas of your life (people, things, etc.) that are important (in no particular order) -- just brainstorm.

3. Rank the list -- you can:

- number them from 1 to ?
- rank them as vital, important, nice to have
- pick your top 7 and ignore the rest

4. Look at your ranking results and determine if you are appropriately allocating your time to the areas of your life that you have identified as the highest importance.

5. Adjust your time and to-dos based on what you learn.

Many people find that they are setting goals based off of other people's priorities! Once they work through this simple 5 step process they have better clarity about where they should really be focusing their time and energy.

What do you do to keep your priorities in focus? Have you tried the exercise above? If so, how did it go? I'd love to hear from you!