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"Regain Your Confidence, Reclaim Your Life">
Priorities and Purpose ~ Part I
March 29, 2010
We have all wished for more hours in a day, believing that this extra time would relieve the stress of all the things we never seem to get done - the Spring cleaning that should have been done six months ago, when it was actually Spring, the remodeling projects that keep getting put off, the stack of books we intend to read - someday, the friends and family we keep meaning to visit and connect with, but somehow never get around to actually seeing.
Parkinson's Principle states "Work expands to fill all the available time." So, truth-be-told even with extra hours in our day we would still find ways to fill those hours and not get to everything we want or "need" to do. And have you ever noticed that when you have a project or activity that you "need", but don't necessarily want to do - whether it's household chores, work related, or something we feel we've been called to - that you will find a million little mundane, totally unnecessary tasks to distract you and keep you from doing it? I know I had that problem with writing this article.
In his book, "Tyranny of the Urgent", Charles Hummel says, "When we stop long enough to think about it, we realize that our dilemma goes deeper than shortage of time. It is basically the problem of priorities. Hard work doesn't hurt us. We all know what it is to go full speed for long hours, totally involved in an important task. The resulting weariness is matched by a sense of achievement and joy. Not hard work, but doubt and misgiving produce anxiety as we review a month, or year, and become oppressed by the pile of unfinished tasks. We sense uneasily that we have failed to do much that was really important."
That is where our stress and anxiety come into play. Stress and anxiety that hinder our success even more because we're so busy feeling guilty and admonishing ourselves for what we didn't accomplish that we fall into a cycle of negativity that leads to overwhelm, and before we know it we're struggling to take action on even the smallest tasks.
So our question is 'Can we escape this pattern of living?' The answer is yes. But the answer isn't time management, it is self-management. It's understanding that we can't do everything, even though we would like to. It's learning the difference between Important and Urgent. It's mastering the 3 D's, which we'll expand on in just a moment. It's learning to say no to things that are not in-line with our priorities and purpose. But most importantly, it's determining what our highest priorities and purpose are and then consistently making that the most important thing in our lives and our daily schedule.
Next time we'll discuss knowing the difference between Important and Urgent.
Viki Stanley-Hutchison
Certified Life Coach
Life Transitions for Women
www.lifetransitionsforwomen.com
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